White Skin, Red Hearts
by Touhoufanatic
Summary: The life of a Supply ship is a slow and boring one, but all that changes when the foremost Supply ship in the IJN, Akitsu Maru, is ordered on a mission that will set off events no one could have fathomed. The war is about to change, and Akitsu Maru will decide how it will; whether she wants to or not. Rated T, but has mature concepts and ideas spoken about.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors forward: and here it is, my next kancolle fic, featuring Akitsu maru as the main character! this story will be much calmer in some respects now that i know more about the game itself, mainly because im playing it now. (Damn 4 in the morning lottery.) this story will be much different than the coalition fleet was, as im trying a slighlty different writing style for it that seems to be working rather well. enjoy!**

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Akitsu Maru sighed to herself as she rested her head on the wheel of her transport truck. From the side view mirror she could see that the maintenance fairies were still swarming over the boxes of materials, grabbing them in groups and ferrying them over to the nearby warehouse. The sight caused her to sigh again and pull out the ID card that she wore on a chain around her neck. The ID cards were only given out to army, air force and naval personnel that had to travel often, and as such it made her feel even more different than she already was from other ship girls.

Unlike other ship girls who would fight against the abyssal, she was one of the few who did not fight. Instead she worked in supplies, bringing materials and resources to all of the naval bases on the primary islands of Japan. It was a nearly thankless job, and put her at even more of a distance from other ship girls she would meet. There were, of course, other reasons she would feel anxious of being at some bases however.

"Hey, Akitsu Maru!" called a male voice.

Akitsu Maru cringed as she heard the voice; there was another reason why she was anxious about delivering supplies to some naval bases, their admirals.

"Hey, thanks for delivering these emergency supplies, things have been getting pretty hairy lately, and our carriers have been low on materials, you've really helped us here!" The admiral said as he walked up to the truck's driver side and looked through its window at Akitsu Maru.

"It's my job. I'll just need you to sign this." Akitsu Maru replied as she passed a clipboard to the admiral by her window.

The admiral took the clipboard and began writing upon it before handing it back to Akitsu Maru. "Well I'd like to thank you anyway. . . .And if you'd like I could thank you a bit in . . . private."

Akitsu Maru let out an exasperated, but silent sigh. This was the main reason why some naval bases made her anxious. Disregarding her pale skin, she was well endowed to a great extent, and it seemed that some admirals, despite being married, felt the need to try to get into bed with her because of it. It was the same reason the secretary ships at bases with such admirals always seemed to growl at her whenever they met. She had never made any advances toward any of them and never would, but it didn't change how things could look, or how some people felt. All she could do was bear with it and shut down their advances, politely. "As . . . interesting as that sounds, Admiral, I have to decline. I have other schedules to meet, and other bases to supply."

"Well yeah, but I'm sure the other bases could wait, right? You should let loose every once in a while and have fun and I could help you if you-,"

"I insist that I must decline, sir. As soon as your cargo is unloaded I must be on my way." Akitsu Maru stated her voice stern and steely, causing the admiral's look to change from one of interest, to disgust.

"Very well then. Leave when you are ready," The admiral said with a huff as he walked away, leaving Akitsu Maru alone again.

With another sigh she lifted her ID card up and looked it over, sighing again as she glanced at the statistics upon it. She was the only ship girl that had an ID card, but they were supposed to change along with the persons statistics. Age, height, weight and the like would change as the persons did for both ship girls and humans, but stats that humans didn't have like a class or level was supposed to change for ship girls. Was supposed to. Hers never did, not because she didn't level up, but because she was already level 99 and kai. Her ID card never changed, just like so many other things never changed for her. She always was on the primary islands, always going to the same bases and delivering supplies, always being hit on by the same admirals, and always getting glared at by the same secretaries. Everything was always the same.

"Hey, the fairies are done! Are you going to leave or continue to woo our admiral!" the bases secretary ship Nagato yelled as she walked up to the driver side of the van and kicked the door, surprising Akitsu Maru to look at her, and the side view mirror.

"I apologize, I was merely thinking to myself. I shall leave at once." Akitsu Maru said carefully, knowing that a single wrong word, or even a single wrong amount of weight on one word, could set off the secretary of this base.

The secretary Nagato scowled and glared at Akitsu Maru for a moment before turning and walking away. "Just hurry and get out of here, whore."

Akitsu Maru sighed to herself again as the Nagato walked away; she probably had hoped that she wouldn't hear her. She could hear her and did, but Akitsu Maru knew that saying anything about it would only make things worse. A lot of ship girls looked down on her and the others that did not fight. Pushing the ignition switch a few times the engine of her truck roared to life, and she carefully backed about and drove out of the base.

Driving along the coastline it was clear to Akitsu Maru what other people so often forgot, that the war against the abyssal was going nowhere fast. The actual islands were rarely attacked now, as they had been so often at the start of the war, but as the amounts of resources she kept delivering increased each week, it was obvious that the actual battles at sea were at a stalemate, and every admiral was trying to swell their fleet sizes and strength to gain even a fraction of an advantage. The effects of the early war were still noticeable though, both in the cities, and the shorelines. Wreckage and pieces of long lost scouting frigates and pieces of full sized ships littered some shores, and almost all trade with other countries had fallen to a near unnoticeable amount. Japan had to live without trade while it fought against the Abyss, and it showed in some cities, especially farming towns and ports that lived off of trade and the exchange of goods.

The nearest town was one such place, a small farming town near the coast that in the past lived off of its farms, rice paddies and fisheries, now without the seas to provide for them safely, it was very easy to see that the town was struggling, both economically, and physically. Many stores had closed signs on them, and the few people that were on the streets looked like they hadn't had a meal in days. Everything was like this across the entire country. It wasn't as noticeable in the cities, but it was still the same as everywhere else. The only places that constantly had large stores of foods were the naval bases to keep their ships fed and ready to keep the country safe.

Deciding that food and rest could wait a while longer Akitsu Maru drove right through the town, the city would only be another hour away.

The road to the city were nearly devoid of traffic, primarily due to the fact that fuel and gas were almost always being rationed. Only large scale transport trucks, trains and the industries got any fuel nowadays, the only time individuals could get fuel was by requesting some for transporting harvests and the like.

The city itself though, was far more alive than the country or the towns outside. People walked the streets and chatted with one another, post service men walked and continued their jobs, and people stood on the street corners and diners sharing cups of tea and conversation with each other. It was a far more calming sight than those in the countryside, but Akitsu Maru could still see that a similar fog clouded everyone in the city, dulling their happiness and their livelihoods. It was an ugly truth about the current situation in the cities compared to the country, but they were still doing far better.

After a few more minutes of driving Akitsu Maru came to the primary warehouse and storage base for all of the naval bases on the island, drove right in, and parked her truck at its usual place beside the main loading doors.

"So let's see. . . . . . . . That's all of the deliveries for today, unless more were called for while I was out. I should check my desk and see if any orders came in." Akitsu Maru muttered to herself as she stepped out of her truck, looking at her clipboard of orders while she kicked the trucks door closed.

If there weren't any more orders Akitsu Maru could take a rest for once, but with the way things had been lately, and with the way orders had been piling up, she doubted it greatly as she walked into the warehouse and toward her desk.

Unlike the city and towns, the atmosphere of the naval and military warehouses of the island's supply bases was far more lighthearted, due to both the constant stream of work the warehouse workers had, and the fact that their constant work meant that their families were well taken care of. Despite not being part of that feeling as a ship girl, it still made Akitsu Maru feel better, just the regular sounds of moving jacks and the constant work was a calming thing.

"Back already, huh, Maru? How was it out there today?" a supervisor called out to Akitsu Maru as she walked into the warehouse.

Akitsu Maru shrugged. "The same, really. Things are bad out in the country, but it hasn't changed much."

The supervisor nodded, "Fair enough. It sucks that things aren't getting better, but all we can do is hope our supplies help change that, right?"

Akitsu Maru smiled, "I guess so. Did anything come in while I was out delivering?"

The supervisor nodded, "Yeah, but it'd be better for you to take a look yourself. Hey, you! Stop that, if you tip those barrels of fuel to much they could pop open!" the supervisor yelled to a worker as he ran off down the halls of the warehouse, leaving Akitsu Maru alone again. Shaking her head with a smile on her face Akitsu Maru walked down the warehouse, dodging and slipping past other workers as she headed to her desk located at the warehouses back wall. Its placement would be less than ideal for most people, but she liked it, it was darker than the rest of the warehouse, and did not have the same smell that seeped in from the city. It allowed her to think, the smell of raw steel and wood helping to calm her nerves and mind, and despite its position, it wasn't a very loud area of the warehouse either.

Instead of a pile of papers on her desk, she found something different; a large man, broad in his shoulders and build, easily six feet tall, wearing a tailored white Naval uniform and hat, both with the appropriate markings on the hat and his shoulders. A high admiral of the Admirably Board, and even more than that, the second highest ranked admiral of the board, the second most important man in all of Japan's navy, and the head of the navy's R&amp;D department, Leo Yomi.

Admiral Yomi was of mixed descent with his father being a man from England, and it showed in his build. He was far larger than any other admiral in all of Japan, and his strict doctrine of following the rules at all times made him well respected by other admirals and their ships.

Looking up from the large watch on his wrist Admiral Yomi smiled as he noticed Akitsu Maru standing there. "Wonderful, I was figuring you'd be here soon. I'm sure you know me, but I am Admiral Yomi, second Admiral of the Imperial Admiralty Board, and the head of Naval R&amp;D."

Akitsu Maru pressed her feet together and stood at attention, saluting the admiral as she spoke. "A- Akitsu Maru Kai, Hei Class Amphibious Assault and Transport Ship, Sir!"

Admiral Yomi smiled and leaned against the wall behind him. "At ease, then. I'm assuming you are both confused and curious as to why I am here, so I will get straight to the point. I have a mission for you."

"Aa a mission sir? I'm primarily a supply ship, before the Abyssal I was used for military troop transport, I can't-,"

"You don't know until you try. What I need you to do isn't an assault or anything like that though. I need you to recover an experimental shell type we were testing a few days ago. The ship girls that were testing it were attacked and dropped the extra shells. We believe that they should be still in the area and we cannot have the Abyssal fleet learning of our new ammunition. So I'd like you to head to that area and retrieve them." Admiral Yomi said carefully, putting extra stress on certain words like experimental and learning.

"C-can the Abyssals learn anything from a few shells, sir? I was under the impression that they were simplistic and violent."

"As far as we can tell, they are, but that doesn't make the danger of it any less. We over at R&amp;D believe this new shell type could possibly turn the tide of the war in our favor, or at least tilt it slightly, and any advantage is worth the risk. The area that we believe the shells are in however, has come under Abyssal control, and that's' why I would like you to go in and retrieve them. With your supply capabilities you should be able to hold onto them without them being damaged under almost any circumstance, and your black uniform along with your naturally pale skin could give you an edge in finding the experimental shells. The Abyssal should have to double check your identity before firing, giving you a greater chance of escaping without taking fire."

Akitsu Maru glanced to her desk, the admiral's words stinging like a hot iron on her heart. Her skin tone always did cause her trouble, and hearing it talked about in such a way was more than just insulting, but he was a superior officer, so she couldn't argue with him on something like that. Anything she said had to be said calmly and with the utmost respect. "Sir, I can understand where you are coming from, but I am a Ship girl, and my firepower if I get into conflict would not be sufficient to-,"

"Don't bullshit me please. I know that you are level 99. Even with your lower than average firepower, your level and skill should make up for it. This may be partially off the record as it's for R&amp;D, but this is still an order. I expect it to be seen through, understood."

Akitsu Maru Stood at attention again and saluted Admiral Yomi. "Sir, yes, sir. When would you like me to sortie?"

"ASAP, and good luck." Admiral Yomi said as he walked up to Akitsu Maru and handed her a piece of paper before walking away.

Opening the paper Akitsu Maru's face went paler than normal, so pale that anyone could swear to be able to see through her. The paper had only two letters and a dash on it, coordinates that told where she had to go. Naval zone E-6, an area on the edge of Abyssal waters that had, until recently been under Imperial control. An area that worried her for what Abyssal could be near it.


	2. Chapter 2

Akitsu Maru sighed to herself as she pulled her pens out of her pocket and placed them on her desk, trading out the pens for what was to come. Since the start of the war against the Abyss she had only joined in on combat operations twice, both of them for the Admiralty Board, and both of them as support. The significance of being ordered on a solo mission by the R&amp;D head Leo Yomi was not lost on her, but it did make her extremely nervous, and a bit paranoid about it.

The naval R&amp;D department of the Japanese Imperial Navy was well funded, with the brightest minds in the country working there day and night to create weapons, armour upgrades and devices to aid in the war against the Abyssals. In addition to its great size and funding, it also had a small, but extremely strong and well trained fleet of ship girls who worked alongside the researchers to test weapons and the like in different scenarios. It didn't make sense that someone from that fleet would "accidentally" drop a shell prototype, or that they would just leave without picking it up; their fleet was too well trained for that, Akitsu Maru was sure of it.

Despite her paranoia about it though, she had been given a direct order from the R&amp;D head, and had no choice but to see it through, despite her misgivings about the mission and the situation surrounding it. Grabbing a large metal box that sat beside her desk she turned to the entrance of the warehouse and began dragging the box out with her, it's metal casing making a horrendous grinding sound on the concrete floor.

For a normal human the box would have been nigh impossible to carry, weighing in at almost 500 pounds not including the box itself, but as a ship girl it was easy to move, it was just easier to drag.

"Hey Maru, I'm assuming that Yomi gave you some kind of, clandestine mission you can't say anything about?" The supervisor said as Akitsu Maru made it to the warehouses main entrance, and saw him standing in its doorway.

Akitsu Maru could tell that the supervisor was more than just a little bit annoyed at the situation, his tone said everything. He likely had directed Admiral Yomi to her desk and knew what was going to come of it. Akitsu Maru didn't like yanking anyone's chain, especially her own, but she knew that she could transfer supplies to bases faster than anyone else thanks to her ability to load her trucks without jacks, and to her lack of need of identification papers, her ID card being all she needed to travel freely. She knew the supervisor did not like that she was going to be gone for a while, but it couldn't be helped. "Yes, he ordered me on a mission. I'm sorry but I will be gone for a day or two, possibly more if the mission drags out." Akitsu Maru replied to the supervisor.

Her superior nodded, his eyes telling everything he was feeling before he even spoke. "Alright, we'll keep things going here and try to keep up with your orders. Just make sure you come back in one piece, alright?"

Akitsu Maru nodded with a smile to the supervisor; he and the other workers of the warehouse were some of the few people who actually treated her like a person. It might've been because he and most of the workers were married with families, or maybe just because they didn't think of her as a weapon, but it was a nice feeling, and she didn't want them to feel sad. "I don't intend to fail and will be back. Are you sure you will be able to keep up my orders though?"

The supervisor waved his hand, as if dismissing the idea. "We'll be fine. I'll just portion your delivery jobs off around the warehouse to those who are free. If it comes to it we can request some help from the next city over. Oh, and I'll drag your box back to your desk once you leave."

Akitsu Maru smiled at the supervisor, the simple idea of him carrying the box causing her to almost giggled to herself. "Are you sure? Even empty it's pretty heavy."

"It'll be fine. It's nothing some good old raw arm strength can't do. . . . I'll uh, grab others to help me if I need to though, so don't worry about me, I won't break anything this time."

Akitsu Maru visibly had to stifle a laugh, remembering when the supervisor first found her box. He had tried to move it by pushing it, but when it tipped it landed on his foot, 500 pounds of metal box and its contents landing on his foot and completely shattering all of his toes. He was out of the warehouse for almost four months before his doctor would allow him to go back to work. "Alright, I'll trust you then. I'll be going now."

"Good luck!" the supervisor called as he stepped away from the wall and walked past Akitsu Maru, into the depths of the warehouse.

Waiting a moment Akitsu Maru let out a sigh and walked out of the warehouse, crossing the large parking lot at its front and stopping at the edge of the warehouse dock. Before the Abyssal first appeared the warehouse was for holding trade items from other countries that had come by boat before transferring them onto trucks. With the Abyssal covering all sea routes though, and trade to other countries at a standstill, the only use docks outside of naval bases got was for watching the tides, or staring at the horizon as the sun rose or set.

Looking out at the far off blue horizon that almost merged with the clear cloudless sky, Akitsu Maru kicked over the box, allowing it to land on its side with a heavy thud that could only be recreated by dropping a ship onto a dock without chains. That was what the box held after all, the objects that proved her existence as a ship girl, her equipment. She barely ever wore her equipment because of her job, but being that it was hers and hers alone, she would never forget how to equip them, or how to use them.

Compared to other ship girls who had massive equipment that could crush a car, hers was smaller than even some destroyer's equipment. Her canons were small and were on an almost horseshoe shaped holder that attached around her belt, and the Scroll that allowed her to summon her scouting planes fit nicely on a loop also connected to her belt. If she was going on a mission with a fleet she would be carrying her usual pack that allowed her to resupply others, but as she was not with a fleet, her pack was unneeded, and lay in the box untouched.

Looking over herself and her equipment she was sure that both were ready, and after a brief moment of inaction, stepped off of the docks edge and onto the water. Her foot equipment, small metal rings that were clipped onto the edges of her boots, did their job and she stood atop the water like any other ship girl, a feeling that humans could never feel washing over her. Despite her like for where her desk was located in the warehouse she did enjoy the feeling of standing on water more. She was a ship girl after all, and there was nothing more natural that the feeling of water under her feet. Reacquiring the feel for it Akitsu Maru spun in place and dashed about a bit, making sure her skills were not rusty from lack of use. Once sure she was ready, she sped off into the ocean, away from the city, the docks and the warehouse, and toward her objective.

The oceans themselves were clear and calm, perfect weather for anyone that travelled upon the seas. Fish swam around beneath the surface; their scales glistening in the warm sunlit waters while a cool refreshing breeze blew about, letting the smell of salt waft over the water's surface. The sights and smell, along with the feeling was still familiar to Akitsu Maru, but at the same time, she hadn't felt them in so long that they were like coming home after having been gone for many years. With calm weather and no ill wind blowing it took Akitsu Maru only half a day to get to the location that Admiral Yomi had given her, the location where she would start looking for the missing experimental shells.

The only thing of interest in the area was a small sandbar with a single small tree upon it, the rest of the zone being completely free of any landmarks. Water swept across the shallow sands just under the surface, causing the single lone sandbar to be still and unaffected by the low and silent waves. Stepping on to the sandbar Akitsu Maru looked around, hoping the shells would be easy to spot.

Shells, even the smallest ones, were pretty large, so they would be easy to find as their size and composition would stop them from sinking into the wet sand. Sinking in the water was a different story though, and the more she looked, the more it seemed to become likely that the shells had somehow gotten into the water, meaning they'd be far harder to find.

Letting out a sigh Akitsu Maru stepped back onto the water's surface and began slowly following the arcs and ebbs of the sandbars just under the surface, if the shells were in the water, they would've gotten stuck on the sandbars more likely than anywhere else.

It took almost another hour more before Akitsu Maru dropped herself onto the sandbar with a huff. She had looked like crazy, but had found nothing that even hinted at the shells being here. It was as if they had floated off, but that was impossible with their weight. This was the only place they could be without her having to enlist the help of submarines to keep looking.

With a heavy sigh Akitsu Maru looked out at the horizon, realizing just how late it was, and how hard the searching would become. The sun was already halfway down the horizon and would be gone in a matter of minutes, and once it disappeared, it would get dark fast. The darkness didn't faze her all that much, and neither did the nighttime, it merely meant she had to be slightly more careful, and she was used to working in the nighttime. The problem was that metal shells would be far harder to see in the dark, and she did not really want to be in territory that the Abyssal had just recently taken at night, it was a bad idea and was just like asking to be attacked.

"My, are you new? I don't recognize you."

Akitsu Maru suddenly leapt to her feet and looked around for the source of the new voice. It wasn't a voice she recognized, and as she had either spoken with, or at least heard the voices of most ship girls, it worried her that she didn't recognize it. No one was over the waves around her, but as she turned to the tree behind her Akitsu Maru froze up, terrified by the person that stood beside the tree.

With skin as pale as her own, Akitsu Maru instantly knew it was an Abyssal ship, but as soon as she noticed the Abyssal clothing and physical shape, she recognized her. Airfield Hime, one of the more dangerous Abyssal Hime classes, responsible for many of the wars early losses due to her sometimes overwhelming air superiority, was standing right in front of her, a look of confusion and interest over her face. A look Akitsu Maru did not think Abyssals could exhibit.

Unable to answer due to her shock and terror, Akitsu Maru stood there and looked at the Airfield princess, looking her over and discerning what she could from her. She looked just like all the reports of her always described her. A one piece white leotard with metal accents and long white hair as pure as a fresh snow. But the reports always stated that the airfield princess, like all of Abyssal Hime's and Oni's, had a stoic and unemotional face that felt like you were glaring at a sword. Instead though, she looked at her with a mix of curiosity and a warm smile that made her feel strangely and uncomfortably welcome. Something she did not expect in the least.

Airfield Hime tilted her head as she continued to wait for Akitsu Maru's answer, but quickly got fed up and spoke up again. "I don't recognize you, are you new?"

**Authors note: yaaa, another chapter! i totally forgot to say this in the forward, but ll of this fic is being beta read by my IRL friend and fellow fanfiction writer Nanashi wanderer. he's actually writing a kancolle fic as well, one that focuses on a special forces group and will be having stealth based missions. if you have the time then check it out, he's been writing fanfiction far longer than i have!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hearing, and understanding what Airfield Hime said perfectly this time, Akitsu Maru could only look at her in shock. "I, er, wha?"

"Is something wrong?" Airfield Hime asked as she took a step forward and closed the distance between her and Akitsu Maru till she was a mere three feet from her. "And where is your equipment anyway? Did you lose it? Break it? Ah, did those nasty Ship girls attack you!"

"Err um, no, that isn't-," Akitsu Maru began before stopping herself and quietly taking a deep breath. She had to be calm in all situations, even a situation as strange as this. It seemed that Airfield Hime was possibly mistaking her for an Abyssal, or was maybe testing her. Either way she had to reply with an appropriate answer. "I um, I'm not sure actually. I think something happened to me, but I'm not sure honestly." Akitsu Maru said, hoping that feigning memory loss would work in her favor.

Airfield Hime looked at her for a moment before her face changed from cautious, to utterly worried and sorry. "That's horrible!" Airfield Hime called out as she ran up to Akitsu Maru and hugged her tightly before letting go and pulling back, holding her shoulders and staring at her. "We have to get you help!"

"Err, I guess so, but how?" Akitsu Maru asked, playing along while hoping for a chance to get away. Being so close to an Abyssal Hime was not a good thing, and she was not strong enough, regardless of her level to take one on, especially Airfield Hime.

"Well . . . hmmm, I'm not sure, ah, but I'm sure my sister would know!" Airfield Hime called out happily as she grabbed Akitsu Maru's arm and began dragging her off the sandbar and towards the ocean.

"W-wait, where are we going, I, I think I need to be somewhere!" Akitsu Maru said in a panic, letting her façade fall a bit, not that Airfield Hime noticed.

"No way I'm taking you to see my sister, she'll be able to help, I'm sure of it!" Airfield Hime said assuredly.

"B-but where is your sister anyway?" Akitsu Maru asked quickly as he tried to break free from Airfield Hime's iron grip to no avail.

"Hm? Underwater at our home, of course." Airfield Hime answered as if it was the simplest thing to do.

Akitsu Maru looked at Airfield Hime and felt a feeling of dread pass over her, her pace paling. "Th-that's, oh no, I'll sink!" Akitsu Maru said in a terrified voice, all intent of keeping her façade up having fallen apart instantly with the idea of being force under the water's surface.

"No, you won't, so let's go!" airfield Hime called out happily as she dragged Akitsu Maru out to the water and then down beneath its surface.

As soon as Akitsu Maru hit the water she could feel it all around her. It wasn't like sitting in the docks or taking a leisurely bath, the cold water was all around her and felt like pins upon her skin, slowly pushing against her. She had hoped that she would not sink down into the water, after all she was wearing her equipment, but sink into the water she did, ever held onto by Airfield Hime.

As Airfield Hime continued to pull her down to the water, swimming like any human would by kicking her legs in alternating strokes no less; Akitu Maru could feel the pressure building. Pressure wasn't what worried her though for, as a ship girl with her equipment on, she could take significantly punishment, even as one of the weakest ship girls offensively speaking. No, what worried her the most was that she was nearing her limit. She couldn't hold her breath any longer.

Her mouth forced itself open as she exhaled and seawater quickly filled her mouth, pouring down her throat and into her lungs. The pain was incomprehensible, unlike any pain she had previously felt, but it only lasted a second. As she swallowed, she found it began to hurt less, and while she initially though it was because she was drowning, she realized after a second, that she was breathing. There was some difficulty to it, and it was far from comfortable, but she was breathing through the water, or breathing the water itself; she wasn't very sure but she did figure Airfield Hime, her grip like iron on her wrist, was likely the cause.

Still being pulled though the waters now darkening depths Akitsu Maru looked in the direction she was being pulled. The water pressing against her face told her that Airfield Hime was swimming very fast, and with the pressure building, she began to worry just how deep she was being dragged; until she saw the very rocks below them lift up and spread apart, revealing a bright silver tube.

As if she was the person to have opened it Airfield Hime swam right toward it, dragging Akitsu Maru along right into the tube. Like a chimney or hallway the tube went down a way, and as they went down Akitsu Maru looked back to see the stone move back in front of it. Her only way out had been sealed.

After a while the tunnel they were in turned and then turned again, turning enough that Akitsu Maru lost her sense of which way was up, just before they broke free of the water. The room the ended up inside was not unlike that of a submarine hanger, a massive room with a pool of water that led outside. And while Akitsu Maru coughed and nearly heaved the water out of her lungs, reveling in the feeling of actual air, she was just as quickly pulled to the edge of the pool.

"Hey, are you okay? Is something caught in your throat?" Airfield Hime asked as she pulled herself up onto the edge of the pool and sat there, looking at Akitsu Maru as she continued to cough a bit.

Akitsu Maru looked waded over to the edge of the pool and looked at Airfield Hime, seeing that she seemed very confused and a bit worried, something she didn't expect to see on the face of an Abyssal. "I- I'm fine." Akitsu Maru replied with a small cough, the unpleasant taste of salt water lingering in her mouth.

"Forgot to breathe through your nose huh, it happens." Airfield Hime said with a smile as she stood up on the pool's edge and took a step back away from it, waiting for Akitsu Maru to pull herself out of the pool. ". . . . . you tired or something? If we're going to help you with your memory then we need to go see my sister, so come on!"

Akitsu Maru swallowed hard but subtly so that Airfield Hime would not notice and pulled herself up onto the pool's edge. It seemed she was stuck upon this path, so she would just have to grin and bear it. As she got out fully and stood on the floor she noticed two things, the pool itself was inset into the floor so its edges were even with the floor itself, and the floor was made of ceramic tiles, just like the kind that would be found in the docks or a bathroom. It was strange feeling tiles under her feet when she was apparently in an Abyssal base, but as she looked about she saw that the walls were made of smooth metal, and the ceiling was a smooth stone with what appeared to be bright lights of some kind inset in it.

As Akitsu Maru looked around the room Airfield Hime grabbed her hand once more and turned toward the single door in the room on the nearby wall, and began moving toward it. Just like before her grip was like iron and there was no stopping her, so Akitsu Maru this time paced herself beside Airfield Hime, as to not get dragged about.

Through the door Akitsu Maru became even more bewildered. She had expected stone or metal floors and walls, after all this was an Abyssal base, but when she and Airfield Hime went through it, she found the walls to be softly colored white wood, and the floors were made of well-polished hardwood, the same that was in most naval bases that she delivered too, and the exact opposite of what she had been expecting.

Akitsu Maru looked down the hallway and the tension in her body disappearing slowly at the strangely familiar setting around her. Passing a single door labelled only with a sign covered in images of pipes Airfield Hime then stopped at the end of the hall, before a rice paper sliding door that strangely did not look out of place.

Without any warning Airfield Hime let go of Akitsu Maru's wrist and slid the door open with a loud crack and stepped through, bending forward at the waist and putting her hands by her mouth, "I'm home." Airfield Hime yelled as she turned to Akitsu Maru and smiled as she seemed to slip her footwear off with her feet alone. "C'mon in!"

Akitsu Maru hesitated a moment as Airfield Hime turned and disappeared from her view, leaving the open door in front of her." You can do this, just be ready, it's an Abyssal Base." Akitsu Maru muttered to herself in preparation as she closed her eyes and stepped across the threshold. She had expected something bad to happen, a trap to spring or to be mobbed by Abyssal Destroyers, but nothing happened for a moment, and after another moment Akitsu Maru opened her eyes, and then felt extremely silly.

The inside of the door looked, surprisingly, like the inside of a regular Japanese home. She was standing in the slightly lowered landing where people left their shoes, and just beyond the floor changed from the sunken stone to raised wood, just like in any Japanese home. To either side of her where two sliding doors, one of which was open, and right between them was a wall scroll hanging on the wall that had a simple few words on it.

Protect your family

Protect the sea

Protect the surface

Never lose yourself to anger

Never lose yourself to hate

Always remember you are loved

Akitsu Maru could feel a small tear form at the corner of her one eye. The scroll was detailed beautifully just like the scrolls that hang at every naval base, but in comparison the words on the one before her felt more wholesome, more calm, and even more important to believe in that the archaic sounding and rigid words that sat lazily on the scrolls at every naval base.

"She's over here! Come on, Sister!" Airfield Hime called as she came though the doorway to Akitsu Maru's left, seeming very impatient in the way she spoke and completely breaking Akitsu Maru's concentration on the scroll before her.

A second later, before Akitsu Maru could prepare herself for who was to come, Airfield Hime's sister walked into the room, and Akitsu Maru could feel her blood flash as cold as a glacier. Seaport Hime was exactly as all of the reports she had read described her. She was easily a full head taller than the tallest ship girl, putting her height likely around seven feet tall, and her short dress clung to her skin showing off her body's shape. Out of her head was her signature single large black horn, and out of her sleeves came her massive metallic clawed hands, each claw nearly as wide as Akitsu Maru's arm. She walked into the room slightly hunched over, a small oil covered rag in her one hand as she seemed to be wiping her hand with it. "Ai, I was in the middle of, oh, hello." Seaport Hime said, changing the direction of her words when she saw Akitsu Maru standing before her. "Ai, who is this?"

Airfield Hime turned to Seaport Hime and pointed at Akitsu Maru, causing her to flinch slightly. "I found this girl by a sandbar, but she's forgotten who she is and doesn't seem to have her equipment on her. I didn't recognize her, so I thought you would!" Airfield Hime declared proudly, acting like a teenager who had just done something without asking and was expecting to be praised. It reminded Akitsu Maru of some cruisers at various naval bases.

Seaport Hime looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and Akitsu Maru could feel her gaze all over her, but after a moment Seaport Hime smiled and then looked back to Airfield Hime. "Alright, I'll take it from here Ai. Tell Sya I would like her help with it though. Okay?"

Airfield Hime seemed to beam at being told that, her face lighting up like a searchlight. "Okay, then can I-?"

"No," Seaport Hime suddenly said, interrupting Airfield Hime's sentence. "You were out later than you said you would be and missed dinner. You've done well, but you are not getting dinner, so head to bed." Seaport Hime said, sounding like the older sister that Airfield Hime had seemed to make her out to be.

"But I want to-."

"Now."

Airfield Hime looked at Seaport Hime for a second and puffed her cheeks out "Fine, good night."

"Ah, make sure to tell Sya I want her help with this!" Seaport Hime aid quickly as Airfield Hime walked past her, leaving Akitsu Maru seemingly alone with Seaport Hime.

Seaport Hime sighed to herself heavily, her shoulders sagging as she turned to Akitsu Maru then straightened her posture with a smile painting her face. "I'm sorry you had to see that, let's head inside so you can actually be comfortable, then we can talk more casually, okay?"

Akitsu Maru couldn't seem to get words out of her mouth as she simply nodded shallowly, her hair not moving an inch from how little her head bobbed.

Seeing Akitsu Maru nod Seaport Hime smiled and motioned with her free hand for Akitsu Maru to follow her as she turned and went back through the doorway. Akitsu Maru followed her cautiously down a short hall and then turned into another room, finding its floor to be made of Tatami mats and having a very large Kotatsu in its center and a large TV hanging in the corner. Seaport Hime crossed the rom and went around to the Kotatsu's far side, kneeling down and shuffling her knees underneath before pulling the kotatsu's skirt overtop the rest of her legs. "Would you like to sit down? Sya will be here in a moment, and then we can talk more openly."

Akitsu Maru carefully stepped into the room and knelt down in front of the Kotatsu, allowing her legs to slide under it, but doing so very carefully. "Um, who is Sya?"

"I am." came a voice from behind Akitsu Maru, causing her to turn her head to look, and began fearing for her life.

Battleship Symbiotic Hime was just like Seaport Hime, exactly as the reports had always described her, at least physically. Her body was slender and pale like any other Abyssal, and her two small horns protruded from her head, parting her shining black hair. Unlike most reports however, she was not wearing a long one piece v necked black dress, and was instead wearing a long blue skirt and a white turtleneck sweater. As she sat down she smiled at Akitsu Maru so warmly that Akitsu Maru could feel the tenseness in her shoulders seem to drift away, at least until Battleship Symbiotic Him spoke up.

"So this is the girl Ai was talking about?" Symbiotic Hime said to Seaport Hime, her voice warm and sweet like honey, or a caring housewife.

Seaport Hime nodded. "It seems so. I'll have to teach Ai about recognizing people better."

"That would probably be an idea." Symbiotic Hime said with a small laugh before looking to Akitsu Maru, I don't recognize you though now that I think about it, which ship girl are you?"

Akitsu Maru's blood refroze again at Symbiotic Himes words, and her own voice had trouble getting past her lips, "Y-you knew?"

"Yes, I saw your equipment on your waist." Seaport Hime spoke up quickly as Symbiotic Hime nodded in agreement.

"Yes, if you had our equipment on though, I doubt anyone would be able to tell." Symbiotic Hime said with a laugh before leveling her gaze at Akitsu Maru. "We must know though, why were you alone out there? Were you sent to look for our base maybe?" she asked, though her voice said that she was not as serious as her words made it seem."

Akitsu Maru wasn't sure what to do. She was in the enemy stronghold with two of the most powerful Abyssal Himes right in front of her, but to top it off, they were sitting around a Kotatsu. They knew she was not an Abyssal, so lying was right out. The only real option was telling the truth, but the shells she was looking for were experimental, and she couldn't just tell them she was looking for a lost experimental weapon, could she? "I- I was sent to look for, for something that went missing in that area." Akitsu Maru finally said, deciding that while lying wouldn't work, she didn't have to explain all of the details.

Both Symbiotic Hime and Seaport Hime looked at each other for a moment before Seaport Hime reached over to a cupboard and pulled out a small box, setting it on the table facing Akitsu Maru. "Um, would these be what you were looking for?" Seaport Hime asked as she opened the case, revealing exactly three of the Experimental shells sitting carefully in the box.

"H-how . . . err I mean, these are, um." Akitsu Maru tried to say but the cat had been let out of the bag. They knew about the shells.

"I heard an explosion yesterday on the surface and found some I-class's sniffing at them, there was four of these shells, but one exploded when one of them tried to eat them, I'm sorry I couldn't save all of them." Seaport Hime said sadly, her shoulder sagging as she pushed the box forward to the middle of the table.

Akitsu Maru looked at the shells and then to both Hime's. The shells were in great condition, no perfect condition, as if they had been cleaned and well cared for before being put inside the box. "But, these are, I mean . . ."

"It is quite alright, we know that they are experimental shells, for use against us. But you were looking for them, so it is only right we return them to you." Symbiotic Hime stated warmly with a smile, causing Akitsu Maru to feel ashamed for what she was returning. They knew that the shells were to be used against them, yet they were returning them with smiles on their faces. They had to be planning something.

"You don't plan to let me leave, do you?" Akitsu Maru asked calmly, thinking that was the only reason why they would return the shells so easily when they knew their purpose.

Symbiotic Hime shook her head with a smile, "No, we don't plan on keeping you here at all. You were after those experimental shells, not finding our home, so we are not in danger by letting you go, yes?"

Akitsu Maru felt her mouth drop open in shock at what had been said. The Himes seemed so trusting, and neither of them seemed to be hiding anything, but she had to be careful none the less, they were Abyssals after all. "Um, I see. That's awfully trusting, but I will agree. My mission was to retrieve them and that is it so . . . I'll be going now." Akitsu Maru said as she pushed herself away from the Kotatsu to get up.

"Oh, you aren't going to stay the night?" Symbiotic Hime asked honestly surprised. "We have a room you could use. It is the middle of the night after all."

"Eh, no, I couldn't, I have to return as soon as possible and-,"

"All of the Abyssal drones out there will attack you if one of us isn't accompanying you and we're heading to bed. Are you sure you don't wish to stay the night?" Seaport Hime asked quietly.

Akitsu Maru looked at them both and could feel that she wasn't going to win this argument, which was probably their plan, to lull her into a false sense of security and then do something to her; their comment about Abyssal drones sounded strange, but she figured it'd be better to not ask and play along till she had a way out. "Um, I guess so."

"Alright, then. I'll go prepare your room, just give me a moment!" Symbiotic Hime said as she got up and walked out of the room, her long blue skirt waving calmly and showing just her ankles as she walked. With one less Hime in the room Akitsu Maru figured it would make her calmer, but instead all she could think about was what they could possibly be planning to have been so intent on her staying the night. A few moments later Symbiotic Hime came back into the room and Seaport Hime stood up, looking at Akitsu Maru as if telling her to do the same. "I've tidied up out guest room. It's right this way."

Akitsu Maru swallowed hard as Symbiotic Hime and Seaport Hime led her out of the room and down the hall. They passed many doors on the way and stopped in front of the only one that did not have nameplate on it, though Akitsu Maru hadn't paid attention to what the nameplates had on them. Walking into the room after Seaport slid the door open Akitsu Maru found it to be very small, only three tatami mats making up its floor. A simple room, but none the less cozy looking despite the environment it was in.

Akitsu Maru stepped into the room and looked it once over, noticing nothing seeming to be odd or off about it before turning to Seaport Hime and Symbiotic Hime who stood in the doorway.

"In the morning breakfast will be in the room we spoke in if you wish to join us. Have a good night . . . . . ah; we never did catch your name." Symbiotic Hime said warmly, asking Akitsu Maru's name in her own way.

Akitsu Maru swallowed hard at the prospect of telling the Abyssal her name, but from what they had said earlier, they recognized many ship girls, so lying would likely be difficult. "A- Akitsu Maru, my name is Akitsu Maru."

**Authors note: wow I can write this actually pretty fast, it's kind of weird honestly. I hope everyone likes the story so far, and if you have anything to say please go ahead and do so, thanks again for reading this so far everybody!**


	4. Chapter 4

Akitsu Maru opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar roof over her head. As she sat up she looked around the small room and remembered what she needed to. She was in an abyssal base, deep under the ocean where she had been dragged by Airfield Hime after being found searching for the experimental shells she had been ordered to find. The situation was far from perfect, especially since the Himes that seemed to be in charge, were anything but what she had expected.

Both Seaport Hime and Battleship Symbiotic Hime, the two strongest Himes that seemed to reside in this base, had emotions and acted like nice people, unlike every report about them. It was a strange thing, especially since all of them seemed like nice people.

Sliding off the futon in the room she had been given to use for the night Akitsu Maru sighed as she stood up, fully clothed. She hated sleeping in her clothing, any clothing even. She always preferred sleeping with as little on as possible, mainly due to how heavy and warm her normal clothing and uniform were, though also because she just liked sleeping with little on. Because of the possible danger though, she had forced herself to sleep clothed, and as a result, her uniform was in terrible condition. The wrinkles were far from serious, but they annoyed her none the less, as an originally military ship she felt it was her constant responsibility to keep herself looking her best, especially as she went to so many different naval bases.

Making the futon the way she had found it Akitsu Maru looked around the room as she tried to tidy her uniform. Just as she had seen before she went to sleep, the room had nothing in it, no cameras, no sensors or anything. It made her all the more curious about her situation, especially since she had woken up on her own, and not from anyone doing something to her.

Feeling that her uniform was in at least semi decent shape Akitsu Maru picked up her equipment and attacked it to her belt, slid the door to the room open and peeked her head out carefully in case of ambush or attack. Just as she partially expected, there was no one in the hallway waiting for her, no traps anywhere in sight, and nothing out of the ordinary; except for numerous voices from the room down the hall, many more than just two or three. It could only mean there were numerous Abyssal there, more than she had met the night before.

Steeling herself for whatever could happen; Akitsu Maru carefully stepped out of the room and slid the door closed behind her, making her way down the hall as quietly as possible. None of the signs on the doors she passed could be read, all of them having strange symbols on them instead of kanji; except one that had Hiragana and kanji, Reading Kanmusume, Ship girl. Stopping at the door Akitsu Maru placed her hand on it and slowly slid it open. The room was just like the one she had been in, though slightly larger. In it lay two futons, but no ship girls, a simple thing that made Akitsu Maru feel relieved. The last thing she needed to worry about was whether the Himes at this base were keeping prisoners despite their seemingly happy and inviting manners.

Sliding the door closed so no one would be the wiser Akitsu Maru stepped away from it and headed back toward the main room from the night before. Despite not wishing to loiter in this place, she had no real way out of it, and if the Himes were serious about letting her out, she had to let them see her off.

Stepping up to the open doorway Akitsu Maru stood at its edge and paused, giving herself a moment to mentally prepare for however many Abyssal ships could be waiting for her inside; and then stepped into the doorway, and lost her breath in surprise.

The room itself had changed slightly, its far wall now gone revealing a small kitchen facility that seemed to be built into it. The Kotatsu had not been moved, but with people on all sides, it seemed much smaller than before. Sitting on its left side was Seaport Hime and Airfield Hime, as well as the extremely small Northern Hime sitting between them. On the side closest to Akitsu Maru sat Battleship Symbiotic Hime along with isolated island Oni as well as Aircraft Carrier Water Oni; and on the right side, sat Midway Hime. But while such a gathering of Himes and Onis was both startling and terrifying, what shocked Akitsu Maru more was the two people that sat on the Kotatsu's far side. Sitting with the Himes and Onis with smiles on their faces and food on the plates before them, was a Carrier Zuikaku, and a Heavy Cruiser Furataka. While Akitsu Maru did not recognize the Furataka, she did recognize the Zuikaku. She had been part of the Forty Third Southeastern Assault front from a year before. The assault had ended in failure with twelve of its twenty fleets having been completely sunk, apparently she had been found by the abyssal. At least that was what Akitsu Maru figured.

"Hmm, ah Maru! Good morning!" Symbiotic Hime called warmly as she turned to see Akitsu Maru standing in the doorway. "We've got lots of food, come and sit down, there's a spot right beside Midi!" Symbiotic Hime said, gesturing to the spots on either side of Midway Hime.

Akitsu Maru stiffened at hearing herself invited to sit with Abyssals, and cringed at the shortening of her name that Symbiotic Hime had just given her.

"Something wrong?" Seaport Hime asked as she set down a large cup of tea, easily large enough to be filled with over two liters of tea.

"Err, no," Akitsu Maru said quickly as she stepped into the room and slowly walked around the Kotatsu, sitting down beside Midway Hime, who merely looked at her and nodded quietly.

"Didn't expect to see you down here, Akitsu Maru. Did you sink?" Zuikaku asked casually as she picked up a cup of tea from in front of her and took a sip.

"Err, ah, no I just-," Akitsu Maru tried to explain, but found it hard with so many Abyssal's near. Did they all know she was a ship girl? Did only Seaport Hime and Symbiotic Hime know? Did the others think she was an abyssal? Or had they been told that she was a shipgirl? The questions worried her and tied her tongue in knots.

"Maru here was sent to look for something some other ship girls forgot, so she'll be heading back to them after breakfast!" Symbiotic Hime said happily, not seeming to notice Akitsu Maru's worry.

Despite her worry, none of the Abyssals said anything and continued eating their food as Zuikakau looked at her with a scowl, "Ah, that's so lucky! Our equipment got destroyed, so we couldn't go back up even if we wanted too!"

"Ah, sorry . . . um, how did you . . ." Akitsu Maru began to say, but stopped when she noticed Seaport Hime shaking her head side to side. "Um, never mind."

"Nah, it's no problem," Zuikaku said with a shrug, "I sank during the Forty Third Assault front last year, but I got saved by Sya. Furataka probably had the same thing happen."

"Probably? You don't know?" Akitsu Maru asked, looking to Furataka who shook her head.

"I . . . . don't remember much of anything honestly!" Furataka said happily as she continued eating the food in front of her with a smile on her face.

"Fura had amnesia when we found her two years ago, we were able to help her remember who and what she was and what we were, but her own personal memories never returned." Symbiotic Hime said as she looked up at a clock on the wall and then looked around the table, "You should probably leave soon, dears."

Isolated island Oni, Midway Hime, Airfield Hime, Northern Ocean Hime and Aircraft Carrier Water Oni all looked up at the clock and then to each other and then began getting up from the Kotatsu, saying quick goodbyes as they all left the room. Within a minute Akitsu Maru was left alone with only Zuikaku, Furataka, Seaport Hime and Symbiotic Hime, and still felt very uncomfortable.

She wasn't uncomfortable because there were now less abyssal in the room; less powerhouse abyssal's in the room made her less nervous by leagues. What made her nervous was that Zuikaku and Furataka seemed so content sitting at the Kotatsu with abyssal's. More than that, they both had small content smiles on their faces. It was a strange and almost alien thing, but worse than that, Akitsu Maru could almost understand it.

They had lost in battle and sunk below the ocean's surface, normally a fate considered by many ship girls to be worse than death. They had then been saved by the very enemies they had been facing, only to discover they were different only in their outward appearances. They spoke like they did, they lived like they did to some extent, and they had family and friends just like they did.

Akitsu Maru shook her head in disbelief at the entire situation. It was more than just ridiculous. If their enemies were just like them in almost every way, just what had they been fighting them for?

"Is something wrong, Maru?" Symbiotic Hime asked warmly, leaning an arm against her cheek and using her other to slowly and gracefully lift a small teacup off the table and bring it to her lips.

"Ah, uh, no I just –,"Akitsu Maru said, attempting to think of a reply. She hadn't expected such a question.

"Ah, I see. You must be homesick!" Symbiotic Hime said as she placed her cup back onto the table and moved her hands together in a small and barely audible clap. "I nearly forgot, I'm so sorry. I'll lead you back up to the surface, alright?"

Akitsu Maru was nearly shell-shocked and could do nothing but look up at Symbiotic Hime as she got up from the Kotatsu, her warm smile never leaving her face. She hadn't honestly believed that she would be let go, but she had to be careful just in case. "Ah, right, I'm still a bit sleepy, thank you." Akitsu said in reply as she faked a yawn and got up from the Kotatsu to follow Symbiotic Hime out.

Symbiotic Hime nodded and looked to Seaport Hime with a smile. "I'll be back in a few!"

Within a minute Akitsu Maru had followed Symbiotic Hime out of the room, leaving Seaport Hime, Furataka and Zuikakau alone with each other. No one said anything for many moments, until Zuikaku looked to Seaport Hime, "I'm surprised you let her leave that easily. Did you tell her anything?"

Seaport Hime shook her head and grasped her giant sized mug with a hand and took a sip from it, "No . . . we didn't. . . . Sya . . . thinks she'll be back."

"Eh, really? It doesn't look like she'll be saying anything about this place. But why does Sya think she'll be back?" Furataka asked putting down her chopsticks and resting her arms on the Kotatsu.

Seaport Hime nodded, "Sya says, that she just feels it from her. I think we can trust her too."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see if she comes by again." Zuikaku said after a moment, throwing herself backwards to lay on the floor with a smile. In a matter of minutes Akitsu Maru would be back on the surface, and their life would go back to normal, at least until she appeared again.

**Authors note: I was seriously tempted to have one of the Hime'/oni be one of the new ones from the event, but I decided it was best to use what people were at least more likely to know and ones that I knew of better.**

**And speaking of the current event, I've been getting that dam cat for going on 2 days straight now. It's annoying.**

**But enough of that, that's the fourth chapter, and as I'm sure you can tell, thing are not quite what they seem to be. I hope everyone has liked this chapter and is enjoying this story. Till the net chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

Akitsu Maru climbed up onto the docks of the warehouse district, happy to finally be back on land, a strange thought for a ship girl to have under most circumstances. Despite her worries, Battleship Symbiotic Hime had done exactly as she said she would and had brought her out of their base, and even led her back to the very sandbar where Airfield Hime had found her. Before disappearing she said she would be welcome to come again, but it was an invitation Akitsu Maru had no plan on following through with, she had her job, and her job was supply. This single mission was just that, a single mission that would slowly leave her mind as time went on, at least she hoped.

Crossing the dockyards, she headed towards her own warehouse to drop off her equipment before bringing the shells to R&amp;D. The last time she wore her equipment inside her truck, she accidently blew the entire front off of it, and didn't want to repeat that again; ship weapons hardly belonged inside of a land vehicle after all.

Walking though the warehouse she saw no one, likely because most everyone was out doing deliveries. It was almost noon though. She needed to drop off her equipment, change into a cleaner and tidier uniform, and then deliver the experimental shells. Once that was done she could get back to her normal life. At least, that's what she though until she found the R&amp;D department head, Leo Yomi, sitting at her desk with a folder in his hands. The folder was deep brown in color and had a small brown corner on it, meaning it was a R&amp;D folder, not a supply folder. In the grand scheme it didn't matter if someone else saw her supply orders, but she didn't like people seeing them anyway.

"Admiral Yomi, I did not expect to see you waiting for me!" Akitsu Maru stated as she quickly tried to tidy her uniform and saluted the Admiral.

Admiral Yomi did not move for a moment, then abruptly closed the folder in his hand and looked to Akitsu Maru. "And I did not expect such a simple mission to take longer than the day. When you did not return last night I began to wonder if you had encountered Abyssal ships. Did you find the shells?"

Akitsu Maru nodded slowly, understanding from Admiral Yomi's tone that his comment about meeting abyssal was a façade. He didn't care what problems she had encountered, only that she had finished or failed the mission. "Yes, they're right here." Akitsu Maru replied stoically as she stepped forward and placed the case of shells on her desk in front of Admiral Yomi.

Admiral Yomi looked at the case, his face never changing as his eyes scanned every inch of it before he looked out the corner of his eyes toward Akitsu Maru. "You brought a watertight case with you when you went searching for them?"

Akitsu Maru inwardly panicked. She had forgotten that the shells had been dropped on their own; they hadn't been in a case to begin with. She could just admit that abyssal ships gave her the case. That would put into question the truth of anything she said, and would sound utterly ridiculous, she needed a reasonable excuse, one that made sense. "Y-yes, I figured that if they had been left on a sandbar or in the water I should take appropriate action to ensure they would not become more damaged." Akitsu Maru said, sure that her lie was sound.

Admiral Yomi looked back at the case and said nothing as he set it on its side and clicked open the clasps. Opening the case he picked up one of the shells in his hands and looked it over, glancing at Akitsu Maru again from the corner of his eye. "And you cleaned them as well then I would gather?"

Akitsu Maru nodded. "If I had put them in the case as is, with seawater and sand on them, they could have become damaged."

"Yes, because naval equipment is so weak it would become damaged by a bit of seawater!" Admiral Yomi said sarcastically as he put the shell in the case and closed it. "Very well, the mission is complete and as a reward, I shall have a lump sum of reward money sent to you within the day." Admiral Yomi said as he stood up from Akitsu Maru's desk with the case and began to walk past her.

"Ah, that isn't really necessary, Sir. I have no need for a reward so-.."

"It is necessary, or the financial department would scream. You can do whatever you want with it. Distribute it out to your fellow supply people if you wish, it does not matter to me. You may return to your usual work." Yomi said sternly as he walked away, disappearing from Akitsu Maru's view seconds after he finished speaking, leaving her alone in her corner of the warehouse. It was over, she could now return to her normal life.

With a sigh of relief Akitsu Maru took off her equipment and placed in its case beside her desk, then climbed up the nearby ladder to the loft that was her personal space and sleeping area. Her loft was a small area with only enough room for a single futon and a chest that she used to keep her personal effects and clothes in. Many people would consider it too small to be comfortable, but being that she was almost always on the road delivering supplies, she used it only for sleeping, and it worked for her fine. She liked it.

Stepping up to her chest and opening it, Akitsu Maru pulled out a neatly folded and ironed uniform and placed it on the futon, then proceeded to take off her now far too wrinkled uniform.

"Hey Maru, you up there? I heard you were back and figured you'd like an order to do!" the supervisor's voice called, right from the direction of the ladder up to her loft.

Akitsu Maru was about to answer when the sound of boots on the ladder caused her to freeze and look down at her body. The supervisor was climbing the ladder because she hadn't answered fast enough, and she was in the middle of changing, naked from the waist up, "Yes I'm here. Don't come up or I'll be dropping equipment onto your head!" Akitsu Maru said quickly, noticing that she could see the supervisor's hair at the top of the ladder for just a second before it disappeared; she had just barely made it.

"Alright, alright. I wasn't sure if you were back or not so I figured I'd check if you were sleeping. If you were I was just going to leave your orders beside your futon.

"Just- just leave it on my desk!" Akitsu Maru said, her voice telling how flustered she was.

"Yeah yeah," the supervisor said as the telling sound of paper landing on her desk signified his actions, and then nothing was heard but the usual sounds of the warehouse.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Akitsu Maru finished changing into the clean uniform and slid down the ladder, landing beside her desk. Sitting down she flipped open the folder and looked inside, finding only one order sheet inside. Normally that would be strange, but this order sheet was different, the order was huge. One hundred thousand pieces of steel, fuel, Bauxite and ammunition, as well as a request for one hundred development materials and three hundred buckets; it was a gigantic order, the kind that only appeared once in a blue moon. Either the base ordering it was seriously low on materials, or they were planning something really big!

Grabbing her summoning scroll and the folder Akitsu Maru got up from her desk and walked through the warehouse until she exited it through the main set of double doors. Her truck was in its usual spot, so she didn't have to move it, meaning she could just begin loading it up with the order. Pulling out her scroll she dropped some small cross shaped pieces of paper on it, and in moments they transformed into her primary plane, the Ka type Observation Autogyro. Like a cross between a biplane and a helicopter, the Autogyros were extremely maneuverable, but slower than even some bombers. In battle she used them as spotters for other ships, but when on land and doing her work, they had a far simpler and more useful role. Simply put, they would fly throughout the warehouse and pick out the equipment and resources she needed to deliver, it was the exact reason why she was so fast at prepping orders and delivering them, because she could send out a very large number of Autogyros to grab the orders for her and have her truck full long before anyone else.

After sending out dozens of autogyros and making sure they were organizing the truck's hold intelligently, Akitsu Maru leaned against the truck's side and pulled out the folder again, looking over the order one more time. The order was for a base near the south of the main island, meaning it'd take about a half day to get there, meaning she'd get there around dusk. She had two choices after finishing the order, sleeping at that base overnight, or driving in the dark of night. Driving at night came with its own set of problems, chief among them being that if she was driving on the coast she couldn't have her lights on, night attacks by abyssal. But under normal circumstance she hated sleeping at other bases, mainly because of the various admirals attempts to woo her into their beds, though they failed. This base was different though, not one of those bases, its Admiral was a woman.

It was clear what the safest option would be, and with a nod Akitsu Maru walked over to the driver door and opening it, threw the folder onto the passenger seat before walking back to check on the orders completeness. Her planes were not the fastest, but they did their jobs well, and despite the size of the order it was almost finished being loaded into the truck. Within a matter of minutes the truck was full and her planes returned to her, returning to paper crosses that she slid into a pocket of her jacket.

The country side was the same as it always was, not good but not bad; the scars of the war against the abyssal clear to see in some places, yet unnoticed in others. The Abyssals. Thinking about the amount of damage and loss of life their forces had caused Japan was staggering; but when Akitsu Maru remembered the calm, almost warm reception she got from the Himes, it made it hard to believe the two were connected.

Shaking her head Akitsu Maru tried to push away such thoughts, that mission was behind her and she had absolutely no reason to remember it, especially when the sun was setting and the base she was heading to was just on the horizon. She would make it before the sun fully set, but just barely.

The base itself was a moderate sized one with a large carrier practice area, and dorms that were split according to ship class, not what fleet the different ship girls were in. it was a move that some admirals made to make their ship girls feel safer and calmer, though Akitsu Maru often heard other admirals complain about such ideas, saying that it made them slower to deploy, they were not always on alert and battle ready. She felt seriously sorry for ship girls under admirals like that.

"Hey, Akitsu Maru!" Akitsu Maru heard her name called as she climbed out of her truck in front of the bases supply warehouse.

Turning, she found the Admiral of the base, a young, but very strong willed and beautiful woman with long black shimmering hair. Akitsu Maru had met this admiral before quite a few times; she was a caring person who always wanted the best for those under her command and did not send them into battle if even one of them was unsure of their skills. She was only respected by a few other admirals, but Akitsu Maru liked her, and respected her greatly. "Ah, Admiral!"

"Thanks for delivering my order, and sorry for it being so big. We're preparing for a major operation, so I wanted to make sure everyone was good and at their best." The admiral explained warmly as numerous fairies began pouring out of the nearby storehouse and grabbing pieces of equipment from the truck.

"It's no problem. I had just gotten back from a, very long special mission, so I'm fine with doing this for you. Can you just sign here, please?" Akitsu Maru asked as she grabbed the folder and handed the order sheet to the admiral, along with a pen.

The admiral took them both and quickly signed the paper, handing it back to Akitsu Maru as she spoke. "You're not going to try to drive back to the capitol, are you? We've got rooms you could crash in, and I'm sure none of the carrier girls would mind."

Akitsu Maru nodded and took the paper from the Admiral, "Thank you, I believe I will take you up on that offer. Driving at night may not be difficult, but I dislike ruining my sleep cycle."

The admiral smiled, her smile seeming to warm Akitsu Maru from within. "Good, dinner has already been served though, so I doubt anything would be ready in the kitchen for you to nab."

Akitsu Maru shook her head. "It's fine. Waiting a little before meals would hardly be abnormal for me, sleep is the one thing I dislike putting off."

"Then I won't keep you from it. You know where the carrier dorms are so you can go right on ahead. Oh, just to warn you though, as it's a Sunday they're probably all drinking right now." The admiral said, her voice saying that she didn't mind the carriers drinking at all.

"Alright. Would it be too much if I joined you all for breakfast tomorrow?" Akitsu Maru asked calmly. She knew the answer, but it was still only polite to ask, especially if something would mean that the answer wasn't what she would expect.

"Oh it's no problem. Stay as long as you'd like, Akitsu Maru. Ah, I forgot, I have to run and finish some paperwork, so I'll see you tomorrow morning then, goodnight!" the admiral said before running back towards the base's main building. Whenever Akitsu Maru met her she always seemed to have forgotten something, perhaps that was the reason why everyone she commanded loved her, she wasn't infallible.

Walking up to the building that was the carrier dorms Akitsu Maru could not help but smile at it. Unlike the other buildings on the base the carrier dorms had a very old feel to them, the building itself was entirely made of wood and had very little glass and stone in its construction. Perhaps it was related to the fact that many carriers had an older world feel to them, or perhaps it was just because it was the building they had chosen, but it made Akitsu Maru feel warm somehow.

A quick rap on the door was replied to by the awkward shuffling of feet, and then a crash, and then more shuffling. A moment later the door slid open carefully, and one of the oldest looking Carriers in any base regardless of their actual age, Houshou, stood in the doorway. "Oh my, good evening, Akitsu Maru, how are you?"

"I am fine, thank you. May I come in?"

Houshou looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and stepped back, allowing her to step though the doorway, "Do you need to see someone to deliver something? I had heard a rumor that some supply places were broadening their orders but . . ."

Akitsu Maru shook her head as she slipped off her shoes, "No, I just finished bringing an order here actually, but as the sun has set and with the limits to using lights on the road at night, the admiral said I could crash here tonight with all of you."

"Oh, ah, I'm so sorry, I did not realize, how horrible of me. Please come in, please, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you. I'm so sorry." Houshou said, her voice telling how embarrassed she was over the predicament.

"It's alright. I hear you're all drinking tonight?" Akitsu Maru said, knowing that changing the subject would help curb Houshou's worry and embarrassment.

"Oh yes, you can join us if you wish. I'm sure everyone would love to have you," Houshou said warmly as she led Akitsu Maru down the hallway from the door. Stepping up to a large sliding door Akitsu Maru could hear the telling sound of merry drinking behind it, and before she could give Houshou an answer, she opened the door and stepped through revealing the Carrier dorms main gathering room. It was a very large room and Akitsu Maru couldn't tell how many tatami mats made up the floor, but she did figure it was probably at least ten meters long and about half as wide with a long Kotatsu down its center. The Kotatsu was surrounded by every class of carrier in the IJN, and was covered in numerous bottles, cans and glasses of wines, beers and other alcoholic drinks, as well as snacks of all kinds.

No one seemed to notice at first, until the resident drunk of almost every base turned and saw both Houshou and Akitsu Maru standing in the doorway. "Oh, Houshou, you're back. Eh, Akitsu Maru, want to join us for a drink?"

"Jun'you, you need to hold back a bit, or there won't be any for Akitsu Maru to drink," Houshou said as she walked up to the table and sat down between Junyou and the nearby souryuu, leaving enough space for Akitu Maru to sit down between her and Jun'you.

"Ah it's alright. This much is no problem," Jun'you said with a laugh as a full bottle of sake rolled across the table toward her, she picked it up without hesitation and began to drink straight from the bottle.

"You can ignore her and Houshou, and if you'd like to converse more than drink, there a spot down further with me and Akagi." A Kaga stated as she walked past Akitsu Maru, walking around the table to the far side with a stoic, yet inviting smile.

Looking over to where Houshou sat, Akitsu Maru could see almost a dozen large empty cans of beer sitting in front of her, and another in her hands being quickly emptied. Between her and Jun'you, the amount of alcohol being consumed likely rivaled Akitsu Maru's own body weight, and having a hangover in the morning when she had work was far from ideal. Playing it safe would be the best thing to do, so Akitsu Maru walked around the table and sat down in the spot beside Kaga, knowing that while both she and Akagi could eat a lot, they both were more restrained when it came to alcohol.

"You came to deliver the Admirals order, yes?" Kaga asked in her usual almost emotionless tone. It was sometimes thought of as cold, but Akitsu Maru had met enough Kaga's to know that all of them did care about those around them.

Akitsu Maru nodded, "Yes, it was quite an order though. Are you all preparing for a large scale operation?"

Kaga nodded and leaned slightly over to Akitsu Maru, using a hushed tone, "Yes, a battlegroup of Hime's and Oni's appeared yesterday near our current area of operations, the admiral wanted to be ready for anything."

"Ah, that makes sense. . . . You said a group of Hime's and Oni's, so multiple, right? I know it's not my place to ask or know but . . . "

"It's alright," Kaga said calmly. "Five of them, Isolated island Oni, Midway Hime, Airfield Hime, Northern Ocean Hime and Aircraft Carrier Water Oni, were sighted at the edge of our current AO. From the reports we've gotten, they've seem to be moving between ours, and almost a dozen other Area of Operations. The firepower present with the five of them is staggering."

Akitsu Maru could not believe what she was hearing, the exact Hime and Oni that had been at that base and that had left just before her, where now going around as a battlegroup. And they had all seemed so nice. "That's a lot of danger. Have they attacked anyone yet?" Akitsu Maru asked carefully.

Kaga shook her head, "They have engaged any fleets that have neared them, but strangely they have not sunk any fleet. It is almost like they are avoiding doing so." Kaga admitted as she took a sip from her glass.

Before Akitsu Maru could say anything a sudden burst of noise from the doorway caught her attention, and she looked to find another carrier enter the room, playfully angry at another.

"Geez, I thought I asked you to wait till I was back from dock, Shoukaku!" the Zuikaku who had entered the room cried as she stepped over to her sister ship and sat down.

Akitsu Maru didn't hear the rest of the Zuikaku' or Shoukaku's conversation, she was too surprised by the Zuikaku's appearance, "Kaga is that . . . . I had thought that I had heard a report that . . ."

Kaga nodded as she placed down her cup. "Yes, in the joint operation last year we had lost Zuikaku. She was a strong and good girl. But her loss was hard on her sister. A few months ago the Admiral decided to try a construction for Zuikaku, and it was successful. Since then she has become just as strong as her previous self. . . . . . And I believe she will play a role in our upcoming operations."

Akitsu Maru couldn't respond. The Zuikaku she had met in the Abyssals base, could have been the one that this base had lost, and now she may have been replaced by another Zuikaku. Akitsu Maru knew this kind of thing happened on some bases, but she had never witnessed it herself. LSC Ships like herself were singulars, one of kinds that could not be recreated until the first had been utterly destroyed, and in that way she was different than other ship girls and she knew it. She knew that regular non LSC ship girls could exist in multiples, and she had even been to a base that had them, but this . . . . She wasn't sure how to react knowing that this bases first Zuikaku could have been replaced so easily, despite still possibly existing!

**Authors notes: aarrghh, this frikkin event! I want katsuragi dammit!**

**But enough of that I've been dropping hints of this for the past few chapters In the way people have been talked about, but it feels good to finally state it explicitly, the fact that dozens of each girls can exist at any base and in the same place will come into play Lter, as will the fact that LSD ships don't exist in multiples, but we'll find out more of that later now wont we.**

**I hope everyone has enjoys the chapter, and while I know I said this before, but I'll say it again. as a personal favor to me, if anyone would be kind enough to read my friend nanashi wanderers kancolle story ' sky's the limit' it would Make him really happy (especially reviews, he is kind of sad he's getting few intelligent ones). I myself am reading and greatly e joy it, and I'm sure you all will too. thank you as always!**


	6. Chapter 6

Akitsu Maru slowly opened her eyes and found the texture of wood in front of her face, an odd thing to wake up to under most circumstances. Lifting her head and looking around it suddenly made sense to her, she had fallen asleep while drinking with the carriers. Around the entire Kotatsu almost every carrier that had been present was lying on the floor or on the Kotatsu, sleeping soundly among the now ridiculous number of alcohol bottles, glasses and cans that littered the room. The only person in the room who was not sleeping was this base's Kaga, who was carefully sliding bottles and cans away from the edge of the Kotatsu.

"Ah, you're awake too. Help me with all these cans would you. It'll make a mess if someone wakes up and hits them." Kaga said in her usual nearly emotionless tone.

Akitsu Maru nodded and pulled herself out of the Kotatsu, standing up slowly in case she was hung over or tipsy. She wasn't. "There are quite a lot of them."

Kaga looked up to see that Akitsu Maru was talking about the cans as she helped move them out of the way. "Yes, I suppose that's the reason we're only allowed to drink together once a week. The battleships aren't allowed to do it at all though, so it's not that bad."

Akitsu Maru looked at Kaga shocked. "Wait, the battleships here can't drink at all?"

"No, they can but they can't do it together in groups unless the entire base is having a party, otherwise we'd have nothing left in a matter of days."

"Oh, that makes more sense." Akitsu Maru muttered as she looked around, noticing that no one else seemed to even be stirring, despite the amount if noise that moving all the cans and bottles was making. "They're not waking up, huh?"

Kaga looked around and picked up a rice bowl in front of Akagi, sniffing it for a moment before her brows narrowed. "I think Jun'you spiked the rice cooker with sake." Kaga said with an exasperated sigh.

"So, do we just wake them up then or wait?" Akitsu Maru asked calmly as she pushed the last of the cans toward the kotatsu's center.

Kaga shook her head as she knelt down and pulled a blanket over Akagi's back. "I'll wait for them to wake up. You probably need to get going though; you have more work to do today, yes?"

Akitsu Maru could tell that Kaga had ulterior motives for what she was saying, but she could also tell she was thinking of her. "Yes, I may have more orders. Are you sure you'll be alright watching them all alone?"

Kaga smiled and picked up a large glass sake bottle by its neck, holding it like a small bat as she walked past Akitsu Maru and stopped behind the fast asleep Jun'you, "It's fine. I've had to before, and I can always forcibly wake up the one responsible to help me. Have a safe trip, okay?"

Akitsu Maru took the hint and nodded in reply, quickly leaving the room, and hearing a very audible crack as she reached the building's main doors. Crossing the base as quickly as she could Akitsu Maru entered the main building that held its mess hall, and found the bases admiral in the hall just inside the door talking on a phone. As she noticed Akitsu Maru she closed her phone and walked over, a smile crossing her face. "Good morning, Akitsu Maru. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Well, it depends on the definition, I guess," Akitsu Maru said with a shrug, "I slept like a rock, but I don't recall when I went to sleep."

"That happens a lot on the carrier's drinking nights. Ah, before I forget though, was Kaga preparing the bottle alarm when you woke up?"

Akitsu Maru looked at the admiral with a confused face, unsure of what she meant, until it hit her a moment later. "Ah, yes, I think so."

"I figured as much. I did warn her after all, but she never listens," the admiral muttered to herself before gesturing to the nearby set of metal doors. "Shall we get some breakfast then?"

Akitsu Maru looked at the clock on the wall and shook her head. "Sorry, I really should get back. I didn't expect to sleep so late, please forgive me."

The admiral waved her hand in the air as if swatting Akitsu Maru's words away, "Don't worry about it. I kind of figured you'd say something like that, so at least take this and eat it on the road." she said as she tossed Akitsu Maru a plastic wrapped bag of melon bread.

Akitsu Maru looked at the bag and then to the admiral, nodding to her with a smile, "You are too good to me, thank you."

"No, thank you, Akitsu Maru. Without you I'm pretty sure all of our bases would have fallen long ago, keep up the good work," the admiral said as she walked into the mess hall, the door closing behind her with a light clang.

Smiling to herself and opening the melon bread's packaging Akitsu Maru left the building and headed over to the bases warehouse. Stepping up beside her truck she took a bite out of the bread. "I wonder how many orders there are going to be when I get back. There's always a lot when I spend the night elsewhere for some reason," she muttered to herself as she finished up the melon bread and climbed into her truck, quickly driving it out of the base.

The roads were the same as usual for most of the way, but as she neared Tokyo, something was plainly wrong. Then she heard the sound of cannon fire and exploding water. Looking out towards the ocean she could see many large craft accompanied by dozens of ship girls, and further out, three Abyssal ships for each ship girl. It was another attempt to break the abyssal blockade around japan and get civilian ships to the mainland.

Akitsu Maru sighed at the sight, not because it was a horrible idea, because it wasn't. But because each time they tried many people lost their lives. She understood the need for japan to regain its connections to the mainland, but seeing so many large ships that could take upwards of months to build made her feel extremely sad, perhaps because it was, in a way, like watching a ship girl fall in battle without having fought back.

Akitsu Maru shook her head about, trying to avoid such thoughts as she drove ever closer to the city. Her work was what allowed other ship girls to fight, and as long as they fought, they could try to regain communication with the mainland. She had a job to do, just like everyone else and she had to do it.

Rolling up the window she drove into the city's outer limits and ducked off of the main road onto a side road, an act that would make getting to the warehouse district, both faster and less troublesome. The uneven surface of some back roads were troublesome to some, but for her truck it was no problem, just a reminder of how badly some of Japan's infrastructure was beginning to fail.

Getting to the warehouse district Akitsu Maru found it to be abuzz with activity, far more than she had seen in a very long time. Every warehouse's doors were open with dozens of trucks parked outside of them as workers piled supplies into them. Along with those parked, dozens of trucks seemed to be leaving the district with haste, the sound they made when they shook telling her they were filled to capacity. Parking her own truck to the side of the warehouse to avoid getting in the way she leapt out and ran into the warehouse, finding the supervisor standing at the doors directing dozens with his voice. "What's going on?"

The supervisor looked to Akitsu Maru and smiled, though it somehow seemed half heartened. "Almost every base in Japan has asked for massive orders of everything. Personally I think the admiralty board has sent out some sort of mass order like last year, but that's just me."

"Do we have enough supplies to give them all? Where do you want me? Akitsu Maru asked, eager to get to work.

The supervisor sighed heavily; something Akitsu Maru had never seen him do when asked if he wanted help. "Go check your desk; I've got to get all these trucks out without delay."

Akitsu Maru could understand his seriousness, but as she walked away she heard him swear under his breath, something about an admiral, but she didn't hear it clearly. She didn't need to once she arrived at her desk.

Sitting at her desk just like he had once before was the R&amp;D head Leo Yomi. His uniform was crisp and clean, but his eyes looked like fire as they looked up at Akitsu Maru. After staring at her for almost a full minute in silence his lips finally parted, "I have a special mission I would like you to do."

Akitsu Maru shuddered as she heard his words. She had done his mission already, she was supposed to be getting back to her usual work, and she was supposed to be out their delivering supplies, not acting like a secret agent! "Does it have to do with the storm of orders that I should be helping with?" Akitsu Maru asked, holding back her inner anger and thoughts to keep her tone clear and unaffected.

Leo Yomi nodded, "Yes, due to a massively powerful fleet of Abyssal ships that has been roaming around, the Admiralty board has put out a large scale bounty. Whichever fleet that destroys them will be able to have their base substantially upgraded, and will be given authority to request either of the Yamato class ships from the Kitakyushu LSC base to assist them in up to three dozen operations. While all our forces are dealing with this group of abyssal, I would like you to move through the Sea of Japan and locate abyssal forces there."

"And what would I be doing locating them, I could beat a few of them, but not if there is many of them." Akitsu Maru asked, nervous about where the conversation was going, and what it could mean for her.

"We want you to gather information on the abyssal areas of control and any patrol routes they have. And we would like you to go without your combat equipment so that any abyssal are less inclined to attack you. "

Akitsu Maru could feel rage bubbling up with in her, it sounded like she was being ordered on a suicide mission. Worse than that, she knew why she was, "Is this because of those ships that left earlier?"

Leo Yomi raised a brow to Akitsu Maru. "You are awfully questioning for a supply ship, but yes. Japan cannot hold out without trade for much longer, therefore we need to re-establish it with the mainland. Whatever information you provide us with towards that end will become invaluable."

"You're using the operation against those Hime's and Oni's to cover my mapping their movements then?" Akitsu Maru asked, connecting the dots in her head without any problem.

Leo Yomi looked at Akitsu Maru, his face looking more concerned than anything else, "How do you know that?"

Akitsu Maru felt her heart skip a bit, realizing that Leo had not said what the abyssal fleet was made up of. "I heard about it from the secretary ship of the base I was at yesterday, Kaga Under Admiral-."

"Ah, fair enough, that's fine. Simply put, while many admirals join forces to strike at those abyssal ships, their gazes should be on our eastern waters, leaving the Sea of Japan mostly empty, we believe. Use that to map out where their regular patrols are, or any other information that we could use to organize trade routes again with the mainland."

Akitsu Maru struggled to contain herself as she considered Admiral Yomi's words. The plan itself in general made sense, but it still felt like a suicide mission for her. No, it was a suicide mission, without her equipment if she got caught she would sink. "May I request to bring my equipment, without it I would stand no chance if I got into a fight." Akitsu Maru asked, her tone stiff from holding back the anger she was feeling.

"You are leaving your equipment so it does not weigh you down and let you make the choice for combat. This operation is reconnaissance, not combat." Leo Yomi said simply, his tone saying that he was not willing to budge.

Akitsu gritted her teeth together and spoke up again, hoping to change the admiral's mind. "Then let me just take my scroll so I can reconnoitre areas around myself so I don't get caught unawares. It would allow me to protect myself to at least a small amount."

"No. You will bring no equipment and will work quickly and quietly. The admiralty board believes you capable of this, and the R&amp;D department does as well." Leo Yomi said as he got up from Akitsu Maru's chair and walked past her, stopping just a few feet away. "You have your orders, get to it."

Akitsu Maru stood there for many moments after Leo Yomi left, grinding her teeth together as she slowly tried to calm herself down to no avail. She was being ordered on what easily was a suicide mission if anything went wrong. How was she supposed to watch abyssal patrol routes without her planes or without getting close to them!?

This entire situation was completely ridiculous to her, as was its timing. If R&amp;D had wanted her to keep working with them why would she not have been given this mission upon returning with the shells, or why had she not been asked to join R&amp;D permanently?

Regardless of how ridiculous the situation and what R&amp;D was thinking, Akitsu Maru had been given an order from a high ranking admiral, and just like before she had no choice but to comply. Taking her scroll out of its loop and setting it inside her equipment case she pulled out the only piece of equipment she was being allowed to use, her boot attachment pieces, and walked away from her desk. Walking though the warehouse she found the supervisor standing exactly where he had been before, his face now covered with a heavy scowl, and his fists clenched.

"I know that orders from an admiral cannot be ignored or disobeyed. But I wish he would've chosen a better time to send you out again, the bastard!"

Akitsu Maru shook her head, holding in the dislike she now felt for Leo Yomi as she replied as a ship girl was expected to, at least partly. "It cannot be helped. Don't overwork yourself."

"And you come back in one piece," the supervisor said in reply as he turned and began yelling at some other workers in the warehouse, allowing Akitsu Maru to leave without saying anything else.

Stepping around the maze of trucks that were trying to arrive and leave Akitsu Maru made it to her own and climbed on. The most sensible place to leave from would be in the area of the KitaKyushu LSC base, meaning it was going to be a long and boring drive.

**Authors note: whoo another chapter, though the next one will be delayed a bit due to me going to a convention/festival. Either way I hope everyone is liking the story and this chapter. Until the next one!**


	7. Chapter 7

Akitsu Maru could not help but inwardly bemoan her situation. Being ordered on a so called "special" mission that was closer to a suicide mission by the R&amp;D head was bad. Being sent on said mission without any equipment was beyond bad; it was suicidal.

As if adding injury to the insult of the mission itself, it was to take place in the Sea of Japan, meaning she had to leave from the Kitakyushu LSC base, and simply driving there had taken her almost a whole day.

Even worse though, was her current situation. After leaving the Kitakyushu LSC base, without meeting her friends there unfortunately, she found the seas to be calm, and strangely empty. That is, until her ankles were grabbed from below and she was dragged helplessly down underneath the water's surface, unable to react fast enough to stop it, or to tell who was attacking her.

Perhaps attacking was not the right word though Akitsu Maru thought to herself as she looked around. She had only been dragged for a short time and now that she looked around she realized she was leaning against the edge of a large pool like the one she had seen used to exit and enter the abyssal base. This one was smaller though, barely large enough for more than two people at a time to be in it. Though considering the other person that was in it, the one responsible for her being there, it felt even more cramped than she thought it possible.

"I'm sorry for the abruptness, but . . . I wanted to make sure that neither of us . . . were seen," Seaport Hime apologized as her massive metal clawed hands grasped the edge of the pool and lifted herself up onto its edge. Unlike Akitsu Maru's own clothes, or the clothes of any ship girls, Seaport Hime's seemed to not get wet despite having been in the water, and she herself seemed almost immediately dry as well; something Akitsu Maru suddenly wanted herself to be as she looked up at Seaport Hime from the pool.

"Um . . . what?" Akitsu Maru replied, no idea what was going on right away.

Seaport Hime tilted her head to the side in confusion as she lifted her legs out of the pool and shifted them to her side outside of the pool. "You were in the area without your equipment . . . were you not intending, to come visit?"

Akitsu Maru looked at Seaport Hime blankly and shook her head as she lifted herself up onto the pools edge and sat there with her feet in the water. "Um, but your base is on the other side of the island right? On the other side of Japan, right?"

Seaport Hime looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and then smiled as she stood up and walked around the pool's edge over to Akitsu Maru, extending one of her massive claws to her. "I guess you wouldn't know about that. Well, um . . . . . . . Sya, wanted to talk to you, and show you something. Do you, want to?"

Akitsu Maru looked at Seaport Hime and sighed. She was already deep underwater, and she was thinking that if she could get a list of Abyssal patrol routes from a Hime, it'd be more reliable than her own. " Alright, I have time to spare."

Seaport Hime smiled at Akitsu Maru's response as she stood up from the pool and offered a large clawed hand to her. "Okay shall we, go then?"

"Ah, okay. Is she here?" Akitsu Maru asked as she took Seaport Hime's hand and feeling strange for doing so so easily and not feeling strange about it.

Seaport Hime shook her head as she lifted Akitsu Maru up and led her across the room to a door, into a short metal lined hallway and into another room with a large pool, though this one was circular, and seemed to have a current in it. "No, I was dropping Hoppo off and then was going to see Sya actually."

"Oh, I see . . . " Akitsu Maru replied as she looked forward at the circulating water, realizing that below the surface it looked kind of like a whirlpool. " um, are we . . " she did not finish her sentence but instead pointed down into the pool.

"Hmm? Well yes, we have to use our current network to get to where Sya, Fura and Zui are." Seaport Hime said simply.

"Err, well whirlpools seem like a suicide attempt to me. Is there another way?" Akitsu Maru asked, wondering if Furataka and Zuikaku always were with Battleship symbiotic Hime, but not saying anything.

"Oh, why is . . . oh, I- I'm sorry . . . I forgot that Ship girls don't go underwater well. . . . . . Um, if I hold onto you though, it should be fine. Okay?"

"Okay, I guess." Akitsu Mau replied in a worried tone as she remembered the now three times she had been pulled under water, or out of it. Airfield Hime had been the first, and holding onto her she had been able to breathe, though it had been uncomfortable. The second time was when Battleship Symbiotic Hime had brought her to the surface, and just like with Airfield Hime she had been able to breathe. And now with the third time a mere few minutes behind her, she began to wonder if any ship girl could breathe underwater if held by a Hime or Oni. If that was the case, it had the potential to be devastating if they took to kidnapping and hostage taking.

Without saying a word, Seaport Hime wrapped one of her massive clawed hands around Akitsu Maru's waist and lifted her slightly into the air. The current took them instantly down even further, and a few moments later Akitsu Maru was able to see that they were in a sort of undersea cavern full of dozens of quick moving currents. Using all of her strength just to breath in such an environment, Akitsu Maru was unable to speak, but was able to look around as she and Seaport Hime sped through the cavern of currents.

Occasionally she could see other abyssal Hime's and Oni's in the currents, and the further they went the more they saw, making her wonder. She wasn't able to gauge the sped that they were going, but it was very fast. if the Hime's had multiple bases like the one she had been to before, and if they all were connected by currents like the one they were in, it made sense as to how Hime's and Oni's seemed to be able to travel such great distances easily.

As she realized this and looked around some more, she realized the cavern was changing. Its stone was darker now, almost like obsidian or black ore, and there was only one other current near them, and it seemed to be completely unused.

Suddenly Akitsu Maru felt her body wrench backwards, and looked to see Seaport Hime had grabbed onto a metal bar that was just out of the current with her free hand. Pushing against the current she pulled herself and Akitsu Maru out of it, and then swam up towards a metal pipe in the now small cavern's ceiling.

Nearing a light above them, Seaport Hime let go of Akitsu Maru, and they broke the surface, entering into a small room like the others Akitsu Maru had seen. Pulling herself out of the pool alongside Seaport Hime she looked around for any defining features in the room, but found none. What she did find was that she felt extremely cold, not because of the water, but because of something else. She wasn't sure why, but it unnerved her greatly and made her shiver almost out of fear.

"Over here, Maru . . . Sya, Fura, and Zui are just, through here!" Seaport Hime said with a smile as she walked up to the room's only door.

Seeing the door made Akitsu Maru nervous. Unlike every other abyssal door she had seen, this one looked like it had belonged in a military weapon's stockpile, or perhaps even a bioweapon storage facility. It was a blast door that looked more impressive than any she had ever seen, and then Seaport Hime opened it.

As soon as the door slipped open even a fraction Akitsu Maru felt a cold ind rush past her. It felt like she was suddenly in a graveyard, and everything was silent, yet completely aware of her. It was strange, and far more than just unnerving.

Swallowing hard she stepped up to the door and then followed Seaport Hime through. The hall was short and entirely made of unpolished silver metal, making the hall feel very rough. But that changed when they exited the hallway and into an open room.

This room was made entirely of metal, but it's metal was far brighter in color. On the far wall was a massive plate of glass that curled under the floor a bit, and standing in front of it, was Battleship Symbiotic Home and Zuikaku, but Furataka was nowhere to be seen.

As if sensing their presences, Battleship Symbiotic Hime turned to Seaport Hime and Akitsu Maru and smiled. "Hello, I didn't know Maru was joining us!"

"I found her, outside a while back and brought her along . . . I knew, you wanted to talk with her," Seaport Hime explained as she walked over, nodding to Battleship Symbiotic Hime and exchanging places with her before Battleship Symbiotic Hime walked over to Akitsu Maru with a smile on her face.

"How are we today, Maru?"

Akitsu Maru felt herself blush out of embarrassment at her name being shortened again. "I am fine, I suppose."

"From that answer I'm guessing you weren't given much of a choice in coming here, huh?"

Akitsu Maru nodded shallowly. From the way that Battleship symbiotic Hime was talking, it sounded as if, it was a common thing, or was at least something she had expected; and that worried her quite a bit. "Seaport Hime said you wanted to talk to me about something when she . . . plucked me from above. Is that true?"

Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded, motioned silently for Akitsu Maru to follow her and walked over to a corner of the room. Once there she seemed to calm down, but also seemed to become more serious. "Yes, I had figured you might appear again, but honestly I did not expect it to be so soon. Was your admiral not pleased with the shells we returned to you?"

"No, it was fine I believe. Why?"

Battleship Symbiotic Hime was quiet for a long while, as if she was trying to figure out the safest way to word something. After a while she leaned back against the wall and let out a nearly silent sigh. "Tell me Akitsu Maru, I have heard it from Zuikaku at least once, but what do the masses of ship girls think of us?"

Akitsu Maru could not have expected such a question, but the answer was a simple one. "In the simplest way, abyssal ships are our enemies that must be defeated to preserve peace."

Battleship Symbiotic Hime smiled slightly and looked to Akitsu Maru, her eyes gleaming as if she was happy with such an answer. "Yes, I suppose it is we who disrupted this world's peace. What do the humans think of us?"

"That is a little harder to explain, I think," Akitsu Maru said quickly, knowing that belief on the abyssal ships was split. "admirals, and some humans, think of you as monsters that must be defeated, or as weapons like ourselves that have gone wrong. Some people, honestly, do not know what to think, or do not wish to make assumptions."

Symbiotic Hime nodded understanding how the people seemed to be split. "I understand, then. Would you like to know something, Maru?"

Akitsu Maru nodded slightly as she glanced around the room.

"Then let me show you something . . ." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she guided Akitsu Maru to the side of the room with its wall made of hard glass.

Through the glass, Akitsu Maru saw a strange sight. Past the glass was a deep seemingly bottomless pit in the ocean, deeper and darker than the worst storm she had ever seen, yet it was strangely tranquil. Within its waters she occasionally saw I-class destroyers and similar small abyssal ships appear, but what captured most of her attention was the large silver metal ball that seemed connected to the room she stood in by a heavy chain, larger than any she had ever seen. The metal ball bounced and bounded in the water as the changing currents moved it along, and a few abyssal occasionally swarmed around it for moments before swimming away. It was a strange thing to see, but as she looked on, something else caught her eyes, movement in the deep depths of the pit, far too large to be even the largest Hime. The longer she watched it the less she could make out of it, until it lunged up from the deep pit for a moment, and was then dragged back down by the chains that held it, and the water pressure above it.

The creature itself looked like someone had crossed a massive shark, a squid, and a whale, and then had grafted abyssal armour all across its body. Its teeth looked as large as transport trucks, and the mere sight of it caused a chill like no other to run through Akitsu Maru's body. In that moment she was sure that whatever the thing was, it had seen her, recognized her presence, and reacted to her. Just feeling like it had seen her made her feel like her entire existence was about to be completely annihilated.

"W-what, what is- ?" Akitsu Maru tried to speak, but found her lungs did not want to work, not even half of a sentence would escape her as she felt her heartrate speeding up exponentially.

The feeling of a sudden hand on her shoulder pulled Akitsu Maru out of her horrified trance, and allowed her to look over, seeing Zuikaku standing beside her. "It's pretty ominous, isn't it?"

Akitsu Maru nodded to Zuikaku and looked back at the creature with her, "What, what is that thing?!"

"That is, our mother." Seaport Hime said solemnly, without a shred of affection or emotion.

"What?!"

"Don't confuse her." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she walked up to the glass herself and looked toward Akitsu Maru and Zuikaku, more so toward Akitsu Maru, "It is what created us Abyssal ships. We honestly do not know what it is beyond that, though we do have a few possible ideas. The manifestation of all the hate we felt in our previous lives as ships is just one of them. But it does not change the fact that it is what created us. It is the reason for our existence."

"That, that thing, created the abyssal ships?!" Akitsu Maru exclaimed in shock as she pointed at the window, and though it toward the creature that she now knew was deep within the darkness below.

Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded and turned around, leaning against the glass. "Yes, it created us, but, it does not control us, at least not anymore."

"W-what do you mean?" Akitsu Maru asked her mind full of so many questions, but unsure of how to ask them.

"Tell me, Maru, was there a time in the past years when our actions seemed to change from previous?"

"Well yeah, a few years ago all of you began appearing in different places instead of- wait." Akitsu Maru stopped as she looked at Battleship Symbiotic Hime and realized what she was getting at.

Battleship Symbiotic Hime smiled softly," Yes, up until then we were merely mindless pawns of our creator, or mother as some of us call it. But we then somehow gained intelligence, perhaps because of all the death we had caused, or perhaps it was grief and despair over what we had done, we don't know really. But we all gained intelligence. After a while we worked together and built our new homes, and we even decided what we would do with our lives."

"And- that would be?" Akitsu Maru asked uncertain if she truly wanted to know the answer.

"We decided to keep it here," Seaport Hime said calmly, her voice barely audible as the creatures roar echoed up from the depths as if a thunderous cloud beneath the Waves.

"W-what do you mean, keep it here?" Akitsu Maru asked, not quite understanding what the meant exactly.

"It wants out, and it created us to do that, we believe." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she stood away from the glass and turned back around and looked out the window, "It is chained down there. We do not know what did it to it, but when we realized we were created to lure humans to this place and free it, we decided amongst ourselves that it would be best to keep it here."

"B-but if it created you and wants to be free, why would you-?"Akitsu Maru began to say, stopping midway when she realized what she was almost about to say.

"We decided to because when we gained our own wills, we realized that everything that we had done to humans thus far had been truly horrible. This is also the reason why we all swore none of us, Hime or Oni ,would take the life of a ship girl or human if it could be helped."

Akitsu Maru's eyes widened in realization as she remembered a report from a few months before that the abyssal seemed to be lacking the killing intent that they had all the time before. Now it made sense to her why. There was one other thing that was confusing her though, and she could not help but voice it. "I see. That makes sense. Um, this is probably a strange change of topic, but where is Furutaka?"

As if to answer Akitsu Maru's question, Zuikaku stepped closer and tapped on Akitsu Maru's shoulders, pointing out the window and at the metal sphere that floated above the massive pit. "Furutaka is in the sphere there."

"Huh? What is she doing in there?"

"She's, testing something." Zuikakau said, her tone telling Akitsu Maru that she was not sure if she should be telling her what she was.

"Testing what?"

Zuikaku looked to Battleship Symbiotic Hime who nodded to her, then took a deep breath to continue explaining. "I've been here in Sya and Sui's care for a while, and Furataka's been here even longer. We've both also known what you now know for almost as long. As neither of us can return to the surface as ship girls, we've been thinking of helping Sya and Sui keep ship girls away from this place. But we're not sure if it'll work, so Furutaka's is testing it."

"Testing what?" Akitsu Maru asked somehow thinking that she knew the answer, and simultaneously not wanting to know the answer.

"We've been thinking that since our creator also creates other abyssal just from being here, that its presence could turn a ship girl into an abyssal from prolonged exposure to its energy. That is what Furutaka is testing." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said, finishing Zuikaku's explanation, much to her relief.

"Ah, you, she- she's, trying to turn into an abyssal ship?!" Akitsu Maru nearly screamed in both surprise and horror.

"Well, it's one of three ways we're trying to test. Zuikaku is trying the other way currently, mainly because we cannot test the third way."

"Not that it seems to be doing much though," Zuikaku said, adding to Battleship Symbiotic Hime's sentence.

"That, why would you . . ?"

"Well, we wanted to help them because, well, they aren't doing anything wrong anymore. And keeping such a monster imprisoned is a good idea so. . "Zuikaku muttered, not really sure where she was going with her explanations.

"I know it may be hard to understand with your different experiences, but Fura and Zui both wished to try this. But on a slightly different note, may I ask what you were doing in the area where Sui found you?" Battleship Symbiotic Hime asked calmly, holding no worry in her voice.

Akitsu Maru froze up for a moment. Could she tell them what her mission was? They were supposed to be the enemy, yet they were so open in the information they told her and had once already proven to her that they meant no harm. They had let here leave with experimental shell meant to do them harm but . . . "I, I was on a mission to reconnoitre the area and discover abyssal patrol routes so that the navy could try to reach the mainland again." Akitsu Maru finally said.

"Without any of your equipment at all? If you encountered even an I-class it would have done away with you!" Zuikakau said in shock and surprise.

Akitsu Maru nodded, "The R&amp;D Admiral wanted me to go without any equipment, so that I would not engage in combat."

"But that's suicidal!" Zuikakau screamed, more out of surprise at such a ridiculous order being given than out of anger.

"I agree, but, why do they want to go to the mainland?" Battleship Symbiotic Hime asked curiously.

"Because the lack of trade is causing Japan's economy to fail badly. What little resources that are acquired are pushed to the war effort. But wait, if you guys aren't trying to conquer anything and just trying to control this place, then why is Japan failing?"

"Probably because we each can only control a handful of other abyssal at a time . . . . If we were to pull all of our own personal forces from the sea between Japan and the mainland, would that help them?"

Akitsu Maru could not answer as she looked at Battleship Symbiotic Home in shock. What she was suggesting would change so many things for Japan, even if they had to deal with groups of regular abyssal ships, they could defend large ships from them and regain contact with the mainland. Japan's economic problem could be solved instantly.

The real question in Akitsu Maru's mind though, was whether or not it was all a ploy to deal a serious blow to Japan's navy and economy. Sure she had been treated extremely well, but was it all just to get her trust to destroy Japan?

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not how it is." Zuikaku suddenly said, pulling Akitsu Maru's attention back out of her own mind and toward Zuikaku. "They don't even think of betrayal. I thought they would at first, but in all the time I've been in their care, they have never done anything remotely like what I used to think they did."

Hearing Zuikaku's words Akitsu Maru let out a sigh. She really was overthinking things. This entire time she was consistently thinking in a negative frame of mind, despite everything that had happened. "Yes, moving people out of the Sea of Japan would greatly help Japan." Akitsu Maru finally said clearly.

Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded as if acknowledging the fact. "Then I'll see what we can do when we next meet. Do you want to wait and see if Furutaka's experiment works or do you need to head back to your base?"

Akitsu Maru nodded quickly in reply. She did need to return, and as she hadn't seen any ships before her being pulled under, she wouldn't be lying if she reported to not have seen any abyssal ships. "Yes, I should return soon."

"Alright then, I'll lead you back, okay?"

Days before the simple idea of being lead anywhere by an abyssal ship would have seemed impossible and suicidal. Now though, it felt strangely okay as Akitsu Maru followed Battleship Symbiotic Hime out of the room. In a few minutes she would be back above the surface and on her way back to the Kitakyushu naval base, and then, back to the capitol's warehouse district.

**Authors note: holy crap I apologize for the massive break, it was never intended to be this long, but ended up being, so I'm greatly sorry. Besides that i hope you like the twist this chapter has given. And sorry again for the wait,**


	8. Chapter 8

Akitsu Maru sighed heavily to herself as she carefully pulled herself up onto the high docks of the Kitakyushu LSC base. She wasn't sighing because she was back at the base. On the contrary, the LSC base was where she had been built and was always like home to her. She was sighing because of everything she had been learning recently, and just how ridiculous it made everything seem.

If the abyssal ships had first been mindless and created for the sole purpose of grabbing human's attentions, they had been great at it. But now that they had sentient and minds of their own, was it possible for peace between them?

The obvious answer was no, not because it was impossible, but because the humans at this point would not let it be possible. They had ruined Japan's livelihood and killed thousands. Even if it was explained to them, the humans would demand so much that it would be impossible for the abyssal to accept, or they would just refuse without any thought.

It was a despairing revelation knowing that peace was possible and yet completely impossible. The abyssal Hime's and Onis had no desire to fight; they just wanted to keep the thing that made them locked up. If humans knew about it though, how would they react?

They could both understand it and leave it alone, letting the Himes keep it; an unlikely but good action. Or they would use it as a rallying cry and attempt to destroy it, which was far more likely a possibility.

No matter what possibility or way of explaining the information she had, Akitsu Maru could see no way of it being useful without causing more despair and destruction. Even with all the information she now had, she could think of nothing to break the situational deadlock, and it worried her.

If Battleship Symbiotic Hime was going to convince the other Hime and Oni to not move through the sea of Japan, it would still leave numerous other weak abyssal there, but it would make things safer and reopen trade with the mainland, even if a little. If she was lying though and Akitsu Maru reported that the Sea of Japan seemed devoid of Hime's and Onis, the destruction would be great.

Akitsu Maru wanted to believe Battleship Symbiotic Hime and Seaport Hime. She wanted to believe what they said, not because she felt bad for them, but because if what they said was true, then it meant that everything had been a misunderstanding in simple terms, and misunderstanding could be fixed over time. if they were right, it also meant that japan could get back onto its feet, but if they were lying . . .

Akitsu Maru shook her head. She would believe them, it was the only real choice she had. They had given her information that could undo and destroy them, and honestly seemed to have no reason to lie. If they were lying, it was extremely well done.

"You look like something is on your mind."

Akitsu Maru turned to the voice and smiled as she looked over from her position on the docks edge to see here fellow LSC ship Yamato standing nearby. Because LSC ships like themselves were individuals and unable to have copies made, there was a strange sisterly bond between all of them. That bond, of course, existed between Akitsu Maru and Yamato as well, just like it did for all LSC ships between them and it made Akitsu Maru feel like she had come home.

"Yeah, I guess there are a few things on my mind, but it doesn't matter. How have you been as of late?"

"Oh, I've been fine. Because of the resource shortages we haven't been sent out very often. Though I heard that Musashi and I would be sent off to help a base that does well in the current large scale operation. It feels kind of lazy honestly, especially since the reports we've been hearing have been saying their targets seem to be toying with them."

Akitsu Maru remembered the groups of Hime's and Onis she had seen leave and giggled quietly. Just imagining them running away was something that seemed surreal. "That's no good; maybe you'll be stuck on being ready to sortie without ever going."

"Yeah, it is a little annoying, but I understand it since I use so much fuel and ammo in combat. How about you, I heard you're doing some work for R&amp;D, yeah? I hadn't heard that you transferred out of the supply base."

"I, um . . . didn't. The R&amp;D head is just having me do some small minor missions for them."

"Are they low on people or something? The way I understood it, the R&amp;D department was one of the best staffed so that new weapons against the abyssal could be made."

"I don't know, no matter how I asked or complained he never told me anything" Akitsu Maru said, her tone stiff as she remembered the reason and objective to what her missions given by R&amp;D were, and how badly she was skirting them.

"Your mission is what is worrying you, isn't it?" Yamato asked after a moment, motioning for Akitsu Maru to follow her over to the bottom of a nearby crane.

"What, n-no, not really."

"We may not be sister ships, but all of us LSC's are like sisters. I can tell when you're bothered, Akitsu Maru. There not much point in trying to hide it."

Akitsu Maru looked at Yamato and followed her over to the crane, letting out a sigh as she sat down on a knee high slab of cement. "Yes, it's what is bugging me. My missions, well they haven't gone exactly as I had expected."

Yamato looked at Akitsu Maru, "I can tell you shouldn't tell me about it, but if you are really that worried about it, I'm always here to listen to you."

Akitsu Maru was silent for many moments as she mulled over in her head what to do, before she finally could not contain herself any longer, " I- you might not believe everything, but, well- I'll start from the beginning for you."

And so Akitsu Maru told Yamato what had happened to her. Everything from Leo Yomi giving her the mission, to meeting the abyssal on her last mission and everything in between. She left out no detail about anything, Leo Yomi, the abyssal, or her own feelings. She told her everything and then after what seemed like an eternity of speaking, Akitsu Maru took a deep breath and released a sigh of relief. It felt good to get it all off her chest.

As Akitsu Maru seemed to bask in the afterglow of letting everything go, Yamato had a confused look on her face. She wasn't confused by Akitsu Maru's words, as she knew that Akitsu Maru would never lie to her, she was confused about how she should react to the information she now had too, and how it would affect what she currently was supposed to do. "So, what is your plan then, to do with what you know I mean."

Akitsu Maru took a deep breath and let it out slowly, smiling to Yamato as she did. "I'm not sure yet, but I know I have to report at least some of it to R&amp;D. I'll probably do that then decide, I guess."

Yamato nodded as she stood up and looked to Akitsu Maru with a smile. "Then you'd best get going. If R&amp;D found out that you had arrived back in Japan and did not report to them immediately, they would be quite upset with you, I would think."

"Ah, your right. I'm sorry we didn't get more time to talk, maybe we'll have a chance sometime."

"Yes, that would be nice. Have a safe drive back to the capitol." Yamato said as Akitsu Maru leapt off the cement and ran off across the base, toward where she had parked her truck.

Watching her run off Yamato sighed and walked over to a hidden box and donned her equipment which lay inside. It was time for her to head on the mission she had gotten from R&amp;D.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akitsu Maru groaned as she stretched her arms getting out of her truck. The drive from the Kitakyushu LSC base had been a long one, and such long drives were always hard on her muscles. Grabbing her order folder she walked away from her truck and over to the warehouse, hoping to get an order from the supervisor.

Entering the warehouse however, Akitsu Maru found it eerily quiet, and as she walked down its length, she noticed that not a soul was in the building, and all of the lights were out. Because she slept in the warehouses' back the lights were never turned off, and even with it being the evening, it wasn't late enough for the warehouse to be empty.

Throwing the folder onto her desk Akitsu Maru turned around and listened silently, hearing nothing. "Strange, did everyone go home early or something?"

"That is one way you could look at it."

Akitsu Maru looked up to see the owner of the now familiar voice, Leo Yomi, step out from behind a shelf of metal crates. With the lights out in the warehouse it was difficult to see his face, but from the way he stood before her, Akitsu Maru could tell something was off. And it made her very nervous.

"Oh, Admiral Yomi! I got the routes of the few Abyssal ships I saw out there and-."

"You can quit that pointless façade. I have already discerned your true colors."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about, about you being an abyssal covert agent. Take her."

On Leo's words a dozen ship girls came out of the shadows, all of them aiming their armaments at Akitsu Maru's body and head, some at nearly point blank range. None of them seemed to show any remorse, and their glares were like cold steel on Akitsu Maru's skin.

"W-what?" Akitsu Maru said in surprise and shock, unable to react to what was happening around her.

"You look confused. Did you not think I would not notice abyssal energy on those shells you supposedly returned? Once we discovered that energy, it became clear that you could be alongside the abyssals. But we needed proof. Proof we acquired when our scouting planes out of Kitakyushu watched you dive under the water's surface, as only an abyssal could!"

"What? No, that's not what happened! The abyssal had found the shells yes, but they returned them and-"

"And why would the abyssal fleet, our enemy, return experimental shells to you? Unless you were with them from the beginning and needed to increase your trust with us. They should have just kept them, and killed you! Your argument does not hold up very well, turncoat."

"That . . . they are not what we believed them to be! They used to be controlled by something else, but they aren't now! That's why the severity of their attacks against our fleets has lessened!"

". . . . . . . and what was controlling them then, if you're so keen on making us believe what you say."

Akitsu Maru Looked at Leo Yomi and could feel a cold sweat run down the back of her neck as she spoke. "A- a giant underwater monster, it's chained deep underwater."

Leo Yomi glared at Akitsu Maru, his eyes nearly shining in the minimal light filtering in from the warehouses entrance as he let out a long and exasperated sigh. "It is clear to me that you are now just desperate. I hope the ride to your prison cell will give you time to fabricate a more, believable, story to tell us. And maybe the admiralty board will like it better than your current one."

"I'm not lying! I swear I'm-" Akitsu Maru said as she took a step toward the admiral, and quickly found the end of a gun barrel swung into her face, sending her to the ground with a hard thud.

"What you believe is the truth is irrelevant when you spout such impossible and unbelievable words. You'll have time to think over your side of the story on the way to your cell. Pick her up and put her in the truck. We are done here!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Now, would you please tell me the truth about what you have been doing and how long you have been working for the abyssal fleet?" A young man in a light grey shirt and black pants asked as he stood on the opposite side of the massive steel bars that separated him from Akitsu Maru. "I swear that if you tell me the truth I will do my best to have your sentence minimized."

The cell that Akitsu Maru sat in was made of bleak grey concrete with a metal grid work across it. The metal bars that split the cell from the hallway beyond were bright silver, and was almost a half foot in diameter. The bars were crossed, making it a grid just like the walls. There was no lock that Akitsu Maru could to see, and she did not notice any hinges or connection to the wall.

"I already told you everything that happened to me. None of it has changed since the last admiral questioned me." Akitsu Maru responded seriously as she sat in the center of the cell, her chair the only thing in the cell aside from the cells single decrepit futon.

The man on the other side of the bars sighed to himself and leaned back on his own chair, his head resting against the wall. "Please stop this farce. I have read the reports from the admirals that questioned you. Such an outlandish story is, highly improbable. If you'd just work with me here, I could get you out with minimal charges. Just tell me the truth, please!"

Akitsu Maru let out a groan of exasperation, "I am telling you the truth. I know it seems impossible, but it is true!"

The man looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and scowled, sighing to himself again. "Please just stop lying. I don't want any ship girl to get hurt; but I have been told that if you do not respond truthfully, that there may be torture involved in the future. So please, for your own sake, tell me the truth. I am not an admiral, nor am I aligned with the military. So please. . . . Please tell me the truth."

"That is the truth." Akitsu Maru said again, her tone serious and her face unchanging as she spoke.

The man before her sighed to himself slowly and then carefully stood up without making a sound, only speaking when he began walking away and stopped just before leaving Akitsu Maru's sight. "I see. If that is what you wish. Please do not blame me for what could happen, but I will do my best to limit your sentence. I believe you."

Akitsu Maru listened until the man was completely gone and let out a sigh of relief. From the way he spoke as he left, he likely did honestly believe her. The problem was that from the way he said it, it did not seem likely that anyone would believe what she said.

Because of the cell's location and lack of windows, Akitsu Maru could not tell what time of day it was, nor could she tell if it was night or day. Because of the strange hours of her usual work, her internal clock was more than just a little off. So by the time another person came to speak to her, she was unsure of how much time had progressed, but she did know that a lot had indeed passed.

"Do you have anything to say before I tell you why I am here?" A dark looking Tatsuta said a she walked up to the cells bars and glared in at Akitsu Maru. The Tatsuta was wearing a deep white and black outfit with accents of blood red on it, completely unlike what any normal ship girl would wear. Even worse, she was wearing her equipment, and held in her hand her glaive, and a very large odd looking object that Akitsu Maru could not make out.

"I have said everything I know already." Akitsu Maru said carefully as she got up off the floor where she had been laying and walked over to the chair that stood in her cell.

"I see," Tatsuta said as she connected the odd object onto the bottom of her glaive, her smile twisting wickedly as she did. "Then how about we loosen those lips of yours!?" Tatsuta yelled in a fit of glee as she swung her glaive around, thrusting it through the bars of the cell, and into Akitsu Maru's shoulder.

The pain that Akitsu Maru felt was beyond any she had ever felt, and it only got worse. Pulling the blade back out of Akitsu Maru's shoulder, Tatsuta watched as Akitsu Maru's blood seeped onto the floor, then thrust her blade back into the wound, twisting her blade inside it. The blade was not alone however, alongside it, came electricity.

The pain assaulted Akitsu Maru's body to such an extent that her breath would not move. She could not act as the current forced its way through her body. And when Tatsuta pulled the blade out, all Akitsu Maru could do was fall to her knees, steam wafting off her body.

"I can do this all day, and it will not stop until you speak the truth," Tatsuta said with a sick smile as she twirled her glaive outside of the cell then held it to thrust forward again.

"I- I have been. It's outrageous but it, "Akitsu Maru said as she tried to stand up, though her legs would not let her.

Without warning Tatsuta swung her glaive through the bars, catching Akitsu Maru's shoulder and widening the gash even further, while sending another bolt of electricity through her body. "Without your equipment you will not be able to stand up to such wounds for long. . . . . . . . . If you do not tell me the truth within the next hour, I am to execute you; and I will do so in the most painful way possible!

Akitsu Maru felt all of her hope drain out of her body .Her fate had already been written, and no one cared to believe her. "I've been telling everyone the truth! Why won't you believe me?" Akitsu Maru pleaded as she could feel tears well up in her eyes and slowly slide down her face.

"Why? Why would anyone believe such ridiculous lies!" Tatsuta yelled fanatically as she swung her blade in and out of the cell as she spoke. "A monster chained deep in the ocean? The Abyssals being human like and having personality and emotions? The monster idea lone is laughable, but the idea of Abyssals having emotions is just sick! They are monsters, nothing more! Now tell me the truth or shall I carry your sentence out this minute?"

"I did! I already told you!" Akitsu Maru cried, her tears now wetting the floor alongside her own blood.

"Then your sentence will be carried out. Goodbye traitor!" Tatsuta said as she raised her glaive up and thrust it forward.

Akitsu Maru watched the glaive as it moved toward her head. She could not move or even speak, her body frozen through fear and sadness, the same fear that made that single moment drag on as if time had frozen completely.

She wasn't sure what to think. She had thought she had been doing the right thing. The abyssal hadn't been cruel to her, and she had been able to tell that they no longer had ill will towards humans or ship girls as they once had. But from a human point of view they had caused untold destruction and killed tens of thousands. It was not something that could be just forgiven or forgotten. She had tried to keep a secret and now the entirety of the navy figured her for a traitor. They probably thought they were doing the right thing, just as she did.

Thinking that, Akitsu Maru noticed something coming into view toward Tatsuta's head, and her eyes opened in surprise as Tatsuta was punch down the hallway and out of her sight, a heavy crash signalling that she had struck a wall. Before Akitsu Maru could move or even exclaim her surprise, the one who had punched Tatsuta stepped into view, a look of disdain painting her face.

"I can't believe any ship girl would be so willing to execute another. It's disgusting." Yamato said as she gripped a bar to Akitsu Maru's cell with her nearest hand.

"W-what are you doing, Yamato?" Akitsu Maru managed to cough out, blood leaking from between her teeth as she spoke.

"I'm doing what I think is right." Yamato said sternly as she placed her other hand on the bars of the cell and began yanking on them, the metal creaking as she did.

"Wh-what, do you mean" Akitsu Maru said with a wheeze.

Yamato looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and then sighed, taking her hands off the bars for a moment. "I was sent to find the abyssal you were supposed to be in league with and destroy them. I was told to do so right after I was able to get any information of them from you when you returned. After you left Kitakyushu I left, and only a few minutes out, I met one of them. What you told me had me thinking, so when I met them, I spoke to them honestly."

"Then, you believed what I told you?"

"I believed what you told me before I spoke to them, but speaking to them in person was very enlightening. I decided that I would do what I felt was right.

"What, what is that?"

Yamato looked at Akitsu Maru and smiled. "I decided I'd stand by my sister. But there's a question you need to answer. What do you want to do?"

Akitsu Maru was not sure how to answer Yamato's question initially. But as she thought it over in her head her desires became clear. She knew the navy was doing what they thought best but they were ignoring a chance for peace. She knew the abyssal had been their enemies, but now they were something less, or perhaps something more. They had no quarrels with humans anymore and were working to protect them from an enemy they did not know about. If the navy wanted her dead for giving them the truth, there was only one real way to protect those humans she did care about, only one way to continue protecting japan. "I- I want to protect Japan from that monster. If I can't do it from here, I'll do it from the sea." Akitsu Maru said as she could feel herself becoming slightly dizzy from blood loss.

Yamato smiled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to be some sort of radio, flicking its only button before putting it back in her pocket. "In that case, we better get you out of here so we can get going.

"W-wait, you, you can't come with-ack." Akitsu Maru tried to say before coughing up a bit of blood.

"I am going with you, but first we need to get you out of that cell" Yamato said as she gripped the bars and wrenched on them, the bars creaking horrible from her actions, but not budging in the least. "Argh, I don't know what these bars are made of, but they're not budging!"

"Can you d-destroy them?"

"Yes, but eat this first." Yamato said as she let go of the bars for a moment and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small black marble that she tossed to Akitsu Maru.

"What is-?"

"It's what the abyssal use for buckets apparently. If I'm going to destroy the bars you need to be at full strength. Eat it."

Akitsu Maru coughed a bit of blood up and picked up the marble off the ground, putting it into her mouth and swallowing. It was painful, and she had to force it down, but as soon as she swallowed it she could feel the pain in her body slowly beginning to disappear. Before she could speak up, she watched as Yamato stepped back and lowered her guns, each barrels tip resting against the bars. Without warning she fired all of her guns, and the blast sent Akitsu Maru against her cells back wall.

When the dust cleared the bars of the cell were no longer in existence, and the walls were cracked and splintering. Slowly getting up from the floor, and pushing the bits of rubble off of her body, Akitsu Maru looked on in surprise at the devastation around her. She always knew that Yamato's guns were supremely powerful, but being so close to them when they fired was terrifying.

"Are you alright, Akitsu Maru?" Yamato asked with a smile, waving her hand around a bit to get rid of some of the smoke and steam wafting off her guns.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think. Should we-?" Akitsu Maru began to say, before the sudden sounds of explosions resonated in the building, shaking them, and making dust shake all around them, "W-what was that!?"

"That would be our help. Let's get going before anyone realizes I'm helping you escape." Yamato said happily as Akitsu Maru walked up beside her and they both stepped up to the door to the jails.

"Too late, you traitors!"

Both Akitsu Maru and Yamato turned around to see Tatsuta standing before her, the entire one side of her face bruising over as she aimed her guns at the two of them.

"That was a good hit, but it won't keep me down. I'm going to execute both of you right this minute!"

Time slowed to a crawl as Tatsuta moved to fire upon them. Neither of them was close enough to tackle or attack her, and Yamato's gun could not angle to attack her. If she attacked they both would likely be showered by shells. It seemed like the situation was turning grim, until the wall beside Tatsuta exploded inward, showering her with rocks and debris, knocking her to the ground as it all piled up atop her.

"What? Is the base under attack? No, that's impossible! It's the headquarters!" Akitsu Maru exclaimed in surprises as she looked over the pile of rubble atop Tatsuta, her hand that poked out of the ruble clenching a bit, telling her that she was alive, but unable to move.

"Well, attack isn't the wrong word," Yamato said as she walked past Akitsu Maru and over the pile of rocks, looking through the hole in the wall. "Zuikaku and Furutaka said they would provide us a, distraction for us to escape when I gave them the signal."

"Wait, then that radio you pulled out earlier?" Akitsu Maru asked as she followed Yamato over the rubble, feeling bad for the fact that she was literally walking all over Tatsuta.

Dropping out of the hole the rubble had created Akitsu Maru found Yamato and herself in the alley beside two buildings and instantly was shocked by what she saw. The sky was filled with abyssal fighter and bomber craft that seemed to circle overhead before taking a quick strafing run, and she could see small fires on buildings. The sounds of battle were all around them, but she could not see or hear any other ship girls nearby; all of them were likely out to see or right at the edge of the docks fighting.

"Yeah, I called them. But I think they brought some extra forces with them. This is a little bit more than a distraction." Yamato said with a light laugh, surprising Akitsu Maru a bit as the two of them walked down to the end of the alley.

Jumping from alleyway to alleyway to shadowed building side they did not meet a single ship girl, but that changed when Yamato peeked her head around a corner, and very quickly brought it back, a look of worry covering her face.

"We have a problem."

"How so?" Akitsu Maru asked as she moved to look around the corner, until Yamato stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"There are dozens of other ship girls around the corner looking all over, probably for us. If we even run past this street we'll be seen."

"So we just go back around and-,"

"We can't go back; we'll run the risk of running into more people."

"Then what do we do?"

Yamato was quiet for a moment before nodding to herself and looking at Akitsu Maru seriously. "I'll get their attention, you run for the pier!"

"What! Even with your equipment and armour if there are that many they could overwhelm you!" Akitsu Maru said.

"I'm not too sure about that!" Yamato said with a smile as she raised an arm and caused her guns to lift up, signaling their readiness to fire. "I will hold them off and meet you at the docks, so go!"

Before Akitsu Maru could say anything Yamato smiled again and swiftly went around the corner, leaving Akitsu Maru to get to the docks herself. Walking down the alley toward the other ship girls Yamato smiled to herself. She felt strangely good, and not because of the adrenaline in her system. She felt good because it finally felt like she was doing something worthwhile. As an LSC ship she was rarely called upon for anything, and the few times she had it had been ridiculous things like slaughtering large numbers of abyssal that others could do just as well. She hadn't needed the experience in a long time, and with every mission she received, her own actions seemed to make less and less of a difference. But now she had made her own choice for the first time in what had seemed like an eternity, she was going to standby Akitsu Maru and fight for what she now saw as right. The war had raged on long enough, and she would see it through to the end, as one who helped end it the right way!

"Hey, who are you, don't move or we will open fire!" Yamato heard a ship girl ahead of her call out.

She could tell that Akitsu Maru had run off as she had told her too. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did, and it made her feel all the safer, because now she could finally let loose. Stepping into the opening where the other ship girls stood looking at her she smiled and spread her arms out as if embracing them, her guns moving about as she did. "Hello, are you all looking for someone?"

"Do not move, Yamato! Where is the traitor!" a Choukai demanded as she, and every other ship girl before her pointed their guns at Yamato.

"The who? Is there a traitor around?"

"Don't play coy with us! Where is she! Tell us or we'll kill you right here for freeing her!"

Normally Yamato would feel worried or even scared if she had so many guns pointing at her, but for some reason she didn't. Despite what people always said about her, she was far from indestructible, yet for some reason she felt like she was.

"Answer us already!" a nearby Tenryuu yelled angrily as she stepped up toward Yamato and swung her sword down at her.

Yamato raised an arm to stop Tenryuu's blade, and when it stuck her, the sword chipped, and her arm was completely unharmed, her armour was more than enough to stop a cruisers attack.

"G-get her!" A cruiser called suddenly, though Yamato could not tell who said it as they all opened fire upon her. Their cannons and guns sent shells and cannon fire toward her, and she felt every single shot strike her body and her equipment, but she just barely had felt them. Her armour was great, but even still if they continued to strike her, her armour would sunder indefinitely. So she went on the offensive.

Firing her 46cm cannons their shells blasted large holes in the cement and sent easily half of the ship girls, if not more, onto their backs many meters away. As the dust and smoldering smoke began to clear it was clear to every ship girl that hadn't been hit that she was completely serious.

"You traitor!" The Tenryuu called out as she pulled herself up from the ground and grabbed her sword, rushing toward Yamato.

Yamato sighed to herself and turned to the Tenryuu, swinging her clenched fist right into her torso. Tenryuu's body went limp as soon as she was hit, and then her body quickly found its way into a nearby wall.

"Make it to the ocean, Akitsu Maru. I'll be right behind you as soon as I send everyone here to the docks for a week." Yamato muttered to herself as she looked over to the rest of the ship girls nearby. It was time to send them on a prolonged bath in the docks.

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Akitsu Maru moved carefully between the buildings, hoping she would not meet any ship girls as she made her way towards the docks. She hadn't liked the idea of Yamato taking their attention, but there was little she had been able to do about it, and she knew that Yamato could hold her own with her strength alone. Her title of the strongest ship girl in history was not for show after all.

Compared to Yamato, she was barely as strong as a human. Being a support ship she was not strong, and she knew that if she got into a fight now, without her equipment, she stood no chance.

Hearing the sounds of battle to all sides and above her Akitsu Maru could not tell if there was any safe path she could take. Even worse, with how large the Naval Headquarters facilities were, she was likely barely half way to the docks.

It was not a situation she liked to be in. She had to get out of the base, and the only way to do so was the docks. But with how much noise was all around her, there were likely many dozens of other ship girls running around fighting. Some of them were likely looking for her as well, meaning she had to be careful, otherwise she would run into someone who unlike herself, was armed.

Hugging the corner of a building, Akitsu Maru took a moment to catch her breath, and realized the sounds of battle around the corner had ceased when they had been audible moments before. Had the battle moved elsewhere? Or had someone won over their enemy? If the ship girls had won or were resting, she'd be moving into a battle she could not win. But if it was the other way around, not moving forward and finding out would be just as bad and could cost her time.

Taking a careful look around the corner, Akitsu Maru could not initially believe what she saw. Dozens of ship girls were lying all over the ground, their equipment broken and large bruises over their bodies. Small shell craters were in the buildings aides and scattered around the ground, and in them middle of it all was the one responsible. Furutaka, only she did not look exactly like she did the last time Akitsu Maru saw her. Her clothing had not changed in its design but was entirely deep black with silver accents. She was missing her articulated gun, and she had massive armoured gauntlets all the way up both of her arms, guns and cannons sticking forward out of both of them, their metal as dark as night with the telling fangs of abyssal cannons on them. What surprised Akitsu Maru the most, however, was that Furutakas eye that normally glowed vibrantly bright like the sun, was now glowing bright red like the eye of a demon, while her other eye was still bright golden. Looking over to where Akitsu Maru was and seeing her, Furutaka waved to her with a smile, her now pale skin looking even brighter in the sunlight and in comparison to her dark armour and clothing.

"Hey, glad you're alright Akitsu Maru. . . Where is Yamato?" Furutaka asked with a smile, her voice happier than she had heard it before.

"She . . . she had to get some other ship girls attention so I could keep heading towards the docks." Akitsu Maru admitted.

"Oh, well I've been hearing the sounds of large guns firing for a while from back in the base so I'm sure she's fine. What about you?"

"I'm fine, for now." Akitsu Maru said as she was suddenly reminded of Tatsuta's torture and shivered a bit.

"Well ,you don't look to good. Honestly, you don't look physically wounded but, well, you look hurt still." Furutaka said in a worried tone as she turned and looked around, spotting an abyssal fighter in the sky circling above them. "Ah, looks like one of Zuikaku's fighters have found us, it should cover you from above, just head straight that way to reach the docks. Zuikaku is just off shore providing support so meet up with her!" Furutaka added as she pointed down a roadway with a massively armoured arm.

"But what about you?" Akitsu Maru asked, notching the large scratch marks on Furutakas equipment, and the bruises and scrapes on her skin. She wasn't bleeding, but it looked like she had been in quite the fight.

"I'll be fine," Furutaka said stoically as she suddenly turned to a road adjacent to the one she pointed at, all of her guns aiming down it as if waiting for something to come. "Get going, I can hear more ship girls coming. I'll hold them here!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go down that street. It leads straight to the docks where you'll find Zuikaku. I'll be fine." Furutaka said with a smile as she began firing all of her cannons in order, absolutely destroying the road before her, and causing the ship girls just beyond to scream and shout in surprise.

Akitsu Maru nodded and did as Furutaka said, rushing away and down the road. As she ran she could hear the sounds of battle increase behind her, but more than anything, she heard the sounds of angry and annoyed ship girls, and the sound of metal striking metal. Was Furutaka punching them with her equipment covered arms?

Shaking her head to remove the worry from her mind Akitsu Maru ran down the street. If Furutaka said she'd be okay then she would, just like Yamato would. She had to get to the docks.

As if reality was working against her though, the fighter that was following her suddenly fell from the sky, crashing to the ground with a bang. Before Akitsu Maru could even think about what it meant, a chain of explosions rang out from ahead of her, right at the docks. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it did tell her what she needed to know. She was almost there.

Turning the last corner Akitsu Maru expected to find the docks either empty or covered in craters and broken equipment. But while it was covered in craters and equipment, it was far from empty. Standing around in a group on the docks was a Nagato, Mutsu, Atago, Hiei, and Kirishima. All of them were bruised and had damaged clothing and equipment, but what shocked and horrified Akitsu Maru was what she saw before them. Lying on the ground was Zuikaku. She looked like aircraft carrier water demon, but her hair color and clothing was inverted, black hair with white clothing and armour, though her hair was still the same style as it always was. She was lying on the docks with her face against the pavement, a broken black steel bow lying near her, and her skin was covered in cuts and bleeding gashes that showed through the gaping holes in her clothing.

Suddenly the Nagato stepped up to Zuikaku's side, and aimed all of her guns down at her head and body. She meant to fire on her at point black range, and with how badly hurt Zuikaku looked-.

"Zuikaku, get up!" Akitsu Maru called out, forgetting for a second that doing so would make her presence known.

"Zuikaku? Impossible!" Nagato exclaimed haughtily as she looked up from her and over to Akitsu Maru, all of her guns still aiming at Zuikaku as the other ship girls with her spread out and all glared at Akitsu Maru. "Get out of those shadows, we know you are there. Or did you want to watch your fellow monster be killed!"

"No, run!" Zuikaku moaned in pain as Akitsu Maru walked away from the corner and into the open, only stopping when she was a dozen feet from Nagato, and less than that from the others.

"Let me guess, you want us to free your friend here in exchange for your life. Right, traitor!?" Nagato asked Akitsu Maru angrily as she tapped the end of her foot against Zuikaku's head.

"No, just let us go and we'll be out of your hair." Akitsu Maru said quietly as emotions welled up within her, hate, disdain, anger. All of these emotions filled her but the one that she felt the most, was absolute disgust, disgust that someone could be so willing to strike someone already down in such an ugly fashion.

"Do you really think that is how it works?" Nagato asked with a laugh as she placed her foot on Zuikaku's head and began pushing down as a telling click from her equipment told all-around her that her guns were now loaded.

"Just let us go, you don't have to do this."

"Do what, execute the enemy and a traitor!?" Tatsuta said as she walked onto the docks, her halo cracked and her equipment and clothing heavily damaged. "It was quite lucky of you that that wall explode on me, but I'm here to collect on your life!"

Akitsu Maru felt angry at herself. Because she hadn't come faster Zuikaku was now in serious condition and worse than that, she had no equipment. Her equipment had never been meant for combat, but if she just had her equipment, she could do something. She could do something instead of having everything done for her!

Then it happened.

Like the sun burning its light out from below her feet a bright white and yellow ring of energy burst forth, scorching the ground around her as particles of light floated up. The particles quickly gathered around her and began forming a shape around her waist and behind her. And when the lights faded, their work was done. Floating behind Akitsu Maru was a runway scroll just like her own, and belted around her waist was equipment similar, but oddly new and different from her usual equipment. Instead of small tiny AA guns, the equipment on her waist had ten moderately sized guns that looked completely unlike a ships cannons.

Without warning the guns on her waist all aimed down at the ship girls before her, and let out sudden cracks as their shells careened through the air, striking each girl in the torso and knocking them backwards from the force. Those that immediately got up were then quickly pummelled by the bombs that numerous fighters dropped on them, all summoned by the scroll that floated weightlessly behind Akitsu Maru.

Leaving the ship girls to be held back by her planes, Akitsu Maru ran over and crouched down beside Zuikaku with worry in her eyes as she placed a hand on her shoulder, and took one of Zuikaku's with the other, "Are you okay Zuikaku?"

Zuikaku looked up at Akitsu Maru and smiled, her now brilliantly red eyes surrounded by tears from pain. "I've – I've been better, but I'll be fine. Where are Furutaka and Yamato?"

"I'm right here!" Furutaka called as she walked on to the dock, punching Nagato in the face as she tried to get up and attack her. A simple act that seemed to stop every ship girl from getting up again, letting Akitsu Maru's fighters finally just hover about.

"Ow, well where is Yamato then?" Zuikaku cringed as she slowly got up off the ground with Akitsu Maru's help.

"She, should be here soon I think, there's no way that she was beaten so-"

"Really, you think that, you monsters!" Tatsuta called as she clawed her way up off the ground and pointed her guns and glaive at them. "Even if she does make it here, all she'll find is your bodies and-"

"Shut up!" Yamato's voice called as her hand grabbed the side of Tatsuta's head and threw her sideways into the nearest wall with a crack that caused everyone nearby to cringe at it.

"Yamato!" Akitsu Maru called happily as she ran over to Yamato and leapt at her, hugging her with small tears in her eyes!

"Wow, you look in good shape! Furutaka said loudly as Yamato walked over with Akitsu Maru hanging off of her, letting go a moment later.

"Yeah, sorry for worrying you all. Let's leave this place already . . . . Are they all knocked out?" Yamato asked as she gestured toward the ship girls nearby, none of whom except Nagato were at even half damage.

"Yeah I think so. That or they're playing dead." Akitsu Maru said with a strange smile as the guns on her equipment jittered about.

"I see. Well let's get out of here. This base is in disarray, so we shouldn't have to much trouble leaving, especially with those planes of yours above us."

"Yeah, I agree let's leave!" Akitsu Maru said as both Zuikaku and Furutaka nodded in agreement as well.

As the four of them leapt off the docks and sped off across the waters toward the horizon, Tatsuta lifted her head from the ground, glaring at them. "Not, if I have any say about it!" she growled as she aimed her two guns at Akitsu Maru and fired. The shells travelled true, and by the time the sound reached their ears, the shells struck Akitsu Maru in the skull and back, knocking her forward onto the water's surface with a crack.


	10. Chapter 10

Akitsu Maru slowly opened the doors to the warehouse, making sure to be as quiet as possible as she did. It had only been a matter of days since her escape from the capitol, but she had to get her equipment back since the equipment that appeared for her that day disappeared shortly after.

Slowly walking through the warehouse in the darkness, Akitsu Maru made her way to the back corner that had been her own. She could barely make out some tape and fencing around it, but it was understandable that it would be cordoned off.

Sneaking past the fencing Akitsu Maru looked over her desk and the area around it, but nothing was there, not even the tiny stub of a pencil she had been keeping out of not wanting to waste it. Nothing was left, not her equipment, the box she kept them in, or anything.

With a dejected sigh Akitsu Maru carefully walked over to and climbed up the ladder to her loft, hoping that her futon and chest were still there. She wouldn't be able to take her futon with her, but she was hoping her clothing would be there.

Her loft looked like it had been through a hurricane. Her futon was literally in multiple pieces lying all over, and her chest of clothing was busted open. Her clothing was all over the place in no order, and even her undergarments were strewn everywhere, telling her that even they had been looked through. She understood why they would be, but from the way they were all over she could tell it hadn't been a girl that had gone through her clothing, making her feel rather invaded.

Sighing to herself quietly Akitsu Maru grabbed her clothes and folded as many sets as she could, carefully stuffing them into the bag she had brought with her that had been tied around her waist. Quickly tying the string threw it down off the loft, and climbed down.

She hadn't worried about the noise her bag could make, her clothes had no metal on them after all, and cloth hardly made noise when it fell even from a height, but she soon regretted it as she turned away from the ladder, and saw the silhouette of a person standing there.

"A little late isn't it, Akitsu Maru?" The familiar voice said happily as he lifted a small lamp and lit it, revealing the supervisors face.

"Ah, supervisor . . . this, isn't what it looks like I-"

The supervisor raised his free hand, silencing Akitsu Maru as he waved for her to follow as he turned and began walking toward the back of the warehouse. Following him Akitsu Maru soon found the two of them down the side of the warehouse where the bulk Bauxite was kept, and noticed a crate with a label on it, spelling bauxite completely wrong. Before she could say anything the supervisor placed the lamp on the floor and picked up a crowbar that sat beside the crate, using it to quickly wrench the front off of it with practiced skill. As the crates front fell with a heavy but dulled thud he took up the lamp and lifted it towards the crate illuminating its insides, and Akitsu Maru's equipment that sat inside of the crate.

"A few hours after you left some officials appeared demanding to see where you kept your own personal effects. I felt that it would have been best to keep them busy and did so by having them wait while the warehouse calmed down. We couldn't move all of your stuff, but I figured your equipment would be the one of the few things you would never want to misplace, so we hid them here where the officials would not look." The supervisor said with a smile, though it was hard to make out in the lamplight.

"But, why?" Akitsu Maru asked after a moment, small tears forming around the corners of her eyes.

The supervisor smiled and set the lamp on top of the crate as he turned to Akitsu Maru, "because all of us know what kind of person you are. You would never betray anyone, and everything you do is for everyone's good. We couldn't possible believe the official story of you being a spy, just the idea was ridiculous."

"I, thank you, thank you so much!" Akitsu Maru said as she began sobbing the tears sliding off her face and onto the floor.

"I can tell you've been through a lot, and I can guess as to what is really going on. Just promise me one thing, okay? Stick to your values, and don't let anyone tell you they are wrong, okay?"

Akitsu Maru wiped her eyes and nodded, "Of course."

"Good. I need to head home before my wife kills me. Keep yourself safe, alright?" The supervisor called, as he walked away, leaving Akitsu Maru alone in the lamplight with her equipment. Her supervisor always believed in her, everyone at the warehouse district had always believed her.

Taking her equipment out of the crate and donning it Akitsu Maru carefully reorganized her old area and left the warehouse, making sure it was the way she had found it. If anything was found out of place it would come back to the warehouses staff, and that would be no good.

Once she was sure of placement, Akitsu Maru leapt down off the docks with her bag of clothing and sped off out to the seas horizon.

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Leo Yomi was led down the halls of the Naval Headquarters with his hands chained behind his back. He was quickly led into a room where he found all of the admiralty board sitting before him, all of their faces grim and hallowed.

"Admiral Leo Yomi, you are here today to hear the charges held against you. These charges are, Dereliction of duty, Engaging in illegal and unapproved weapons development, Framing members of the IJN, and finally, manipulating information and protocol within the Navy. How do you plead before the emperor's name?"

Leo Yomi looked up at the admiralty board and took a deep breath before speaking, "I am guilty of nothing. Everything I have done has been for the inhabitants of Japan!"

The room was quiet for many moments as the one admiral sat down; glancing around at his fellows he sat beside. They all knew what had to be done.

An admiral near an end of the table stood up and tapped a small pile of papers on the table, looking toward Leo with nothing short of complete disproval. "Admiral Leo Yomi, I would ask you questions relating to the charge of you developing illegal weapons. You will answer honestly, do you understand?"

"Of course." Leo Said with a smile, "but I have done nothing out of bounds!"

"We shall see. After the events of last week R&amp;D was looked into for security reasons. It was then found that R&amp;D had been developing weapons to use against the abyssal fleets. Normally this would fall under R&amp;D's regular operations and would not be a problem. However, it was further discovered, that one type of shell that was being developed was a shell akin to a weapon of mass destruction and such research endeavours are banned by international law. Is this true, Leo Yomi?"

Leo nodded his head slowly, never averting his eyes from the admiralty board. "Yes. My people were preparing to test the weapon in question as well. Any weapon that could destroy the Abyssals quickly would be a welcome addition to our power. This war needs to end."

"While we will agree with your final statement, that does not amend the fact that you were in the process of creating and testing weapons of mass destruction, weapons that R&amp;D had been forbidden from doing research into regardless of the circumstance. What do you say?"

"I felt it was necessary to skirt the rules. If the shells I have been developing were to be successful, it would turn the tide of the war in our favour, we would absolutely destroy the abyssal, as we should. Rules that limit such endeavours are what has brought Japan to it's current situation!"

The admiralty board looked at each other with serious scowls; they clearly did not share Leo's thoughts on the matter, but could not speak up immediately.

"This is not directly related, but it is related so I will ask anyway." A young admiral near the table's edge suddenly said as he stood up. "When you went to test the said shells, it is stated in the R&amp;D reports that the testing was cut shot due to abyssal readings in the area, yet it was also stated that three of those shells were somehow left behind. Why?"

"Those useless ships of mine dropped them in a panic, but the shells were later retrieved, so I fail to see the problem here." Leo replied, a smirk never leaving his lips.

"Yes, we read your report on that, but it does not coincide with a different report we have on that matter." An admiral near the table's center said calmly

"What? What other reports are there on the matter but my own?" Leo asked loudly, his tone tinged with surprise.

"That actually brings us to the other charges laid against you. The charges of framing a member of the IJN, and manipulating information and protocol. The LSC Ship girl Akitsu Maru gave a very different story when she was in captivity, captivity that was un-allowed I shall add."

"Un-allowed? I found proof that she was working with the abyss!" Leo screamed, his breathing starting to seem irregular and far quicker than it was before.

"So you say. However the report we acquired from Akitsu Maru before the attack on the Headquarters last week says otherwise. Your report states that the shells were found safety, hers however stats that you sent her, a supply ship, into enemy held territory to retrieve them. Did you not?"

Leo Yomi seemed to growl under his breath before speaking, "Yes, I sent her to retrieve them, and doing so was what allowed me to find out the truth, that she was working with the Abyssals!"

"Yes, with some more in depth searching we found your research documents stating such. However, we do not believe mere tiny reading on the shells would constitute her being with the abyss, especially when her own report was so much different than your own."

"And you would believe that scums words over my own?!" Leo demanded to know, his voice reverberating off the walls of the room as he roared.

Waiting a moment for Leo to calm down the an admiral spoke up, "Tell us Admiral Yomi, your report merely state that you found proof, then confirmed it and captured her for interrogation. What did you find to supposedly confirm your theory?"

Leo averted his gaze from the admirals before him as he spoke, an action that all of them noticed but said nothing about. "After I found the shells I knew I needed proof, so I sent her on a mission where the only way she would survive would be if she was an abyssal. I sent her out to watch enemy patrol routes, and sent a plane to watch her from high altitude. It witnessed her fall below the water's surface, and then hours later, she came back up, accompanied by an abyssal Hime! What other proof could be needed!?"

"So you willingly tried to sacrifice a high level, and highly needed member of the IJN that helps keep all of our bases functional. Correct?"

"Yes, such sacrifices must sometimes be made. Besides, weapons can be rebuilt with little difficulty!" Leo exclaimed, sounding very sure of his words.

"Then please tell us, when you questioned her in captivity, what did she say in her defence?"

" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It, it spun a fanciful story about how the abyssal were actually nice and had been under a monsters control. And such a story could only be spun to allow her escape!"

"Yes, we've heard the same story, and while some parts of it do sound, unlikely, the story itself does match up with the events of recent times, including the sudden and drastic change in the enemies tactics. Tell me Admiral Yomi, why did you have only certain admirals interrogate her when we should have been informed of her capture?" The admiralty boards head suddenly asked when he had been silent thus far.

Leo swallowed hard as he looked at the admiralty board head his voice stuttering slightly as he spoke. "T-that, I merely asked those who would not be swayed by false smiles, unlike you who would believe such stupidity!"

"Those admirals have already admitted to being bribed by you, and that you requested them to not write reports if she said differently." The admiralty board head said solemnly.

"W-what? That . . . . . how, how do you know all of this!?" Admiral Yomi roared in demand. "How do you know what that traitorous weapon reported anyway!?"

"We have our ways of finding out. What matters is that you were given information that now needs to be looked into. Even if it is wrong in any way, it will still prove useful."

"Indeed it will, but that brings us back to our first point." another admiral suddenly spoke up. "You have heard the charges against you, and the evidence to your inaction. Do you plead differently, Leo Yomi?"

"O- Of course not! I have done nothing wrong!" Leo yelled his voice shaking as he spoke.

All the admirals looked to each other and nodded one after another. "Very well, then your punishment will be carried out, so that we may work to fix the problems you have created, and look into the information brought to light."

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A soft ocean spray beat against a high cliff outside of Japan's capitol, moistening the rock as cheers reverberated throughout the countryside. Like a resounding roar they were heard throughout the entire country, and everyone knew what it meant.

The war was over. It had ended after decades and generations, and it was over.

Standing on the ocean sprayed cliff were the ones responsible; yet they would never be called heroes or saviors. They would never have statues raised to their deeds, they would never have their names sung in songs of the valiant or oppressed, and their names would never appear in history books to be read and spoken of.

They would never lead the lives of victors or kings, nor would their lives be those of the fallen or failed. Their lives would be those of everyone else, but would not be those of everyone else. Their lives simply, would be.

"It feels a bit strange, doesn't it?" Yamato said as the salt spray wind beat against her clothing, fluttering it's cloth about.

Akitsu Maru nodded, her completely white clothing flapping just as much as Yamato's did. "Yeah, it's been so long since we stood on Japans soil, but we're back, we are home. We're home."

Yamato nodded and shifted her stance, tapping her equipment on the ground with her foot "Yeah, it almost seems unreal. Thing are changing, and I wonder what will become of us, weapons without a war to fight in."

"Yes, we will have to find new places for all of us now. But I look forward to it." Akitsu Maru said with a big smile, larger and more vibrant than any she had ever shown before.

"You're not the only one who look forward to what is to come." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said loudly as she walked up the cliff's slope and stepped up to Akitsu Maru and Yamato's side; her dress was brilliantly white with golden accents, and the beast that she fought with was nowhere to be seen. Her horns were a blinding white as well, making her look almost like some sort of demon angel.

"Well, it would only make sense for you to look forward to it as well, right?" Yamato asked with a smile, "this will be a strange rebirth for you as well after all."

Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded with a smile and stepped beside them, looking out to the ocean. "Yes, it will be strange to live on land when we had lived in the ocean for so long. And even stranger because we were born there. But I am looking forward to it. We are all looking forward to it."

"That's good. Everything we've worked for has led to this." Akitsu Maru stated strongly as the waved beat below them. "The war is over, and there is finally peace in Japan."

"Yes, but not everywhere. We Hime and Oni are, subjugated, for lack of a better term, but the beast continues to make Abyssals." Battleship Symbiotic Hime stated her tone serious and almost cold.

"True and it will be dealt with when the time comes, together!" Yamato stated with a grin.

"Yes, we'll deal with that problem when it comes to it, as Ship girls, Abyssal ships, and humans together. We'll change the world, together! "

**Authors note: and that is the end of white skin, red hearts! I hope everyone has enjoyed it and the ideas it has shown.**

**I also hope everyone looked forward to my next kancolle fic, the sequel to the coalition fleet. Coalition fleet: fall of darkness, will be appearing in the next week or two, I hope to see you there!**


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